Jeremy L. C. Jones recently had the chance to talk to Monica Valentinelli about her role as editor of HAUNTED: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror, the collection of ghost stories that we published late last year.

Bullet-riddled Etherometers, EMF detectors, tasers, and inconclusive footage of the spooky sort… Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror, edited by Monica Valentinelli, features original stories by Alex Bledsoe, Richard Dansky, Jess Hartley, Jason Sizemore, Chuck Wendig, and six other writers. While there are plenty of ghosts, poltergeists, and the supernatural unknown, the stories in Haunted focus, primarily, on the ghost hunters, chasers, or investigators.

Appropriately enough, the collection kicks off with an overview of ghost hunting (and the culture surrounding it) written by veteran hunter, Jaeson K. Jrakman, who describes the collection as containing “spine-tingling stories of phantom horrors lurking in the shadows of long-forgotten abandonments.”

In her editor’s afterword, Valentinelli aptly compares reading the anthology to “meandering into a haunted mansion,” each story a new thrill, a new corpse or growing puddle of blood.

Monica Valentinelli is a writer and game designer who has worked with Eden Studios, Abstract Nova Entertainment, and White Wolf Publishing, among others. She’s written non-fiction for Apex Magazine and Green Ronin Publishing. She writes regular columns for Geek’s Dream Girl and the How to Write Shop.

Her fiction ranges from short stories to novellas. Publications have appeared (or will appear) in Tales of the Seven Dogs, White Wolf Quarterly, Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas, Daily Bites of Flesh: 365 Days of Flash Fiction, The Zombie Feed, Vol. 1, Apexology: Science Fiction and Fantasy, and New Hero Anthology (forthcoming). Valentinelli’s e-book, The Queen of Crows, is available from DriveThruFiction.com now.

This winter and fall, respectively, Valentinelli edited Slices of Fate: The Collected Works of Eddy Webb and Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror, both from FR Press.

Below, Valentinelli and I talk about editing, ghosts, and what scares her most.

What do you enjoy about editing?

I like to edit from time to time because it forces me to exercise a different part of my brain than I normally would. When I’m writing, I’m down in the trenches trying to meet a set of guidelines or my own expectations for what that story or game should be. When I’m editing, the opposite is the case. Editing reinforces my ability to empathize with people who edit all day, all the time. It’s not easy to comment on someone else’s work.

What sort of editor are you–hands on, hands off, something else all together?

It depends on the project and how it’s set up from the beginning. Some projects require me to be hands on if there are time constraints or strict guidelines that have to be followed. Other times? The onus is on the writer to fit whatever guidelines are on the page. If at all possible, I would prefer to be hands off because I’d rather be a cheerleader than an ogre.

On the page or screen, what sort of ghost story scares you the most?

In recent memory, the scariest ghost stories are the fatalistic tales where there is no chance to “save” the ghost and send them on or the more open-ended constructs where that experience can never end. There are some fantastic films from the Far East that highlight the non-redemptive ghost. Ju-On, Kairo, Dark Water. Most of these have been remade for an American audience and they still hold their appeal for me because the stories are more focused on dealing with the horror than rescuing a spirit.

Are ghosts real?

I’ve had many strange experiences in my life that I can’t rationally explain. This helps me sleep at night because it means there’s another mystery left to explore. My world holds much wonder in it. Is it possible that ghosts exist? Yes. After all, energy cannot be created or destroyed. Am I certain without a cliché shadow of a doubt? No.

How did Haunted come about?

Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror was the brainchild of the publisher Matt M. McElroy. He wanted to do an anthology that was more focused on the people hunting ghosts than the monsters themselves.

Was it open submission or by invitation?

Matt decided to do an invitation only for the anthology because he had a select group of authors in mind he knew would do a fantastic job.

What strategy did you use to organize the stories?

I read them out loud and balanced them based on theme, literary structure, and setting. “What’s the Frequency, Francis?” which was written by Alex Bledsoe opens the anthology because it shifts from present to the distant past and back to the present again. My goal was to keep readers turning the page and to make that happen I wanted the stories to flow from one to the other. Where the story took place was just as important as how it was written.

For example, two stories, “We Need Johnny” by Chuck Wendig and “After Life” Nancy O. Green were written in a more experimental fashion. I decided to put the less-experimental story first to help transition the reader and then followed up with a story by Jason L Blair called “It Happened In The Woods At Night,” which he penned in a three-act structure.

Were there any pleasant surprises in terms of connections between stories?

I was surprised to see that the majority (if not all) of these stories are tried and true Americana. While there are a few tales that introduce the question of mistaken identity (e.g. Is this entity really a ghost?) the majority of the ghost’s origins are Western and all the stories take place in the continental United States.

Have you ever been ghost hunting?

Don’t need to. They usually find me.

How did you meet Jaeson K. Jrakman?

I first met Jaeson at a small convention in Milwaukee several years back where he was giving a talk on ghost hunting. As luck would have it, I sent him a lead on a case someone else had alerted me to. Jaeson is a very rational person. That’s one of the reasons why I think he’s a good representation of a serious ghost hunter who wants to prove ghosts exist using science.

What’s next for you? As an editor? As a writer? As a designer?

Not so much as an editor, but as a line developer — which, in my opinion, employs a very similar skillset to what an editor does. And… that hasn’t been announced yet, so never you mind there.

As a writer? I’ve got a few short stories brewing and I’ll be gearing up for the release of Redwing’s Gambit, a science fiction novella for the Bulldogs! RPG. As a designer, Strange, Dead Love, a paranormal romance sourcebook for Vampire: the Requiem recently debuted and I’m also working on [redacted] for White Wolf, too.

There’s always another story to tell and another setting to explore. It keeps me out of trouble!

Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror and other FR press titles are available now at DriveThruFiction.com.

Related posts:

1. Haunted Reviews and an Award!
2. Haunted: Black Friday Special Offer!
3. New Chapters Available Now at Monica Valentinelli’s Violet War Website!

One of the best things about my role at DriveThruComics.com is working with an amazing group of authors and artists that are producing some awesome comics. One of our publishers has a universe shattering series going on now and I recently had the chance to talk to Artifacts series author/architect Ron Marz about it. This interview was originally crafted for the DriveThruComics Newsletter, so I wanted to do things a little differently. I did some “crowd-sourcing” for questions from folks reading the series. I added those suggestions to my questions and fired them off to Ron.

Artifacts was originally a limited series that involves the bearers of 13 mythological items such as the Witchblade and The Darkness. Recently it was announced that Artifacts will continue past issue 13 and the affects on the Top Cow Universe will be lasting. Here Ron tells us a bit more about the series…

If you had to rank the 13 bearers from most to least favorite for you, how would it go?

Well, I don’t really think of them in terms of “favorites,” I think of them in terms of the story possibilities inherent in each. My favorites would include the Witchblade, the Darkness and the Angelus, as well as the Spear of Destiny.

How difficult is it to balance air time for signature characters in this story?

It’s always a juggling act to make sure that everyone gets their fair share of screen time. Every character is somebody’s favorite, so you want to be sure that each one gets a moment in the spotlight. But I have to balance that against making sure there’s a spine running through the entire story. In the case of Artifacts, the spine is Sara, Jackie and Hope, so their story is what we keep coming back to. It very much began with them and it will definitely end with them.

How is the crossover-event impacting the storytelling going on in the individual comic lines?

We’ve tried to make sure the monthly books like Witchblade and Darkness can be read independently. I never like storylines that put a gun to the readers’ heads and force them to buy a bunch of different series. If you just want to read Artifacts, you can do that and the story will make sense. If you just want to read Witchblade or Darkness or Magdalena, those will make sense individually as well. But by the end of the whole thing, all the series will reflect what’s happened in Artifacts.

Are readers who follow several series getting more of the goods than the folks just following Artifacts?

I hope so. We approached this so that you didn’t have to read multiple titles, but if you do read across a few series, the experience will be a little richer and you’ll pick up on some details. We wanted to reward those reading multiple titles, but not penalize anyone who isn’t.

How does Artifacts work as an introduction for new readers to the Top Cow Universe?

I tried to write the first few issues to be as new-reader friendly as possible, within the context of doing a multi-character series that explores the mythology of the Top Cow Universe. So while there’s a lot going on, I never want the audience to feel like they’ve walked in during the middle of a movie. Everything you need to know should be contained within the pages of the story. No visits to Wikipedia necessary.

What can you tell us about the artists working on Artifacts?

The plan was always to have multiple artists on the series, so we split it up in the way that made the most story sense, which is to follow the traditional three-act structure. Michael Broussard, Whilce Portacio and Jeremy Haun all bring something different to the table, and I tried to play to each artist’s strengths. And then Dale Keown is drawing issue #13, and I honestly have to say it’s one of the most beautiful issues I’ve ever been involved with. Starting with issue #14, Stjepan Seijic and I will be the regular team on the book.

What can readers expect from the ongoing Artifacts series?

Issue #13 definitely brings the initial storyline to a close. There’s very much a new status quo by the end of it. Starting with issue #14, we’ll be exploring that new status quo. You’ll see Jackie Estacado, you’ll see Sara Pezzini and the focus character for at least the first few arcs will be Tom Judge. Artifacts as an ongoing series gives us a much bigger canvas to work with. We’ll be doing much bigger, more epic-style stories, but without losing the character-driven nature of what we do.

The Artifacts and other Top Cow Universe series are available now at DriveThruComics.com.

Related posts:

1. Artifacts Issue 1 Comic Review
2. Preview of Top Cow Production’s Artifacts No. 1

Author and game designer Matt Forbeck recently announced the 12 for ’12 project, in which he will attempt to write a short novel every month in 2012. We think Matt might have gone just a little crazy, but we’re also pretty sure Matt can actually pull this off…so Jeremy LC Jones had a little chat with Matt about the project.

Um, Matt, what are you thinking?

I’m thinking I want to write and I want to self-publish. I’m thrilled with my current publisher, Angry Robot, but there are some projects I’d like to do that wouldn’t work with them. That’s what 12 for ’12 is all about.

I’m a fast writer, so technically I should be able to handle writing 12 novels in a year, especially if they’re shorter ones like these. I’m shooting for 50,000 words each, which is what anyone participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this month is shooting for. That’s still 600,000 words of fiction in a year, but I’m pretty sure I can manage it.

I also can’t afford to take a flying leap on this and not feed my five kids while I’m writing these books for a year, so I’m going to set up a series of Kickstarter projects to line up pre-orders for ebooks and hardcovers for the line. The first one is up already and runs through the month of November.

What excites you about doing 12 novels in 12 months?

There’s the sheer, insane challenge of it, of course. Just standing up and saying I’m going to do it garners a lot of attention. It feels like I just stepped up onto a stage and said, “Hey, folks! You’re going to want to watch this!”

I also like the idea of getting a lot of material out there for people to read as fast as I can. I don’t plan on sacrificing quality for speed though. Most of my novels get excellent reviews, and I’ve been quietly writing them quickly the entire time.

At the end of the year, I want to be able to look back and say, “I did that.” And then I want people to be able to enjoy those books forever.

In what ways does the short novel appeal to you as a reader? As a writers?

As a writer it’s great to be able to get into the story, tell it, and get out. Most novels used to be shorter, but the publishing industry has been pushing for longer books for decades now, knowing that some readers judge the books and the price they’re willing to pay for them based not on the quality of the story but on the page count.

Ebooks turn that all on its ear. As a reader, when I purchase an ebook, I don’t care if it’s an epic doorstop or a tauter work. I just want a good read. I actually prefer my ebooks to be shorter. It means I can read more stories in the limited time I have.

How much pre-planning will you do for each novel?

I’ll have a full outline prepared for each book before I start. I’ve done that with every novel I’ve written, and it does wonders for keeping me on track. It also cuts down on the chances I’ll have to throw out chunks of the novel because I didn’t know where I was going with it.

Will this be a series or standalones? Will you have recurring characters?

I’m planning on having at least three trilogies out of this set. The fourth set of books might be a trilogy too, or it might be three standalones instead.

Which genres are you going to write in?

The first trilogy is based on my Brave New World tabletop roleplaying game that Pinnacle and AEG published back in 1999 and 2000. That’s a dystopian setting in which superheroes exist but have been outlawed for decades, unless they work for the federal government. The US has been under martial law that entire time, and the heroes are trying to set things right and restore justice to the American people.

The second trilogy takes place in a setting I call Shotguns & Sorcery, a kind of fantasy noir. I’ve written a couple shorter pieces in it already, and I’m itching to take it for a stretch with some longer works.

How will this impact your regular writing work? How’re you going to balance this with everything else?

I’m still going to be writing the Magic: The Gathering comic for IDW, and I have a couple of world-building projects I’m working on for other people that will take me through the end of this year and into the next. While all this writing will take a good chunk of my time, it shouldn’t swallow all of it.

Keep in mind that writing is my full-time job. That means I don’t have to worry about a day job getting in my way. This is my day job.

Do you have any advice for writing clean prose quickly?

Have a strong outline and characters you believe in before you start. This makes everything easier. Also, don’t pause to revise while you’re writing. Sprint toward the end as fast as you can. You can always polish your prose later.

What’re you going to do with all these manuscripts when you’re done with them?

I’m planning to publish them as ebooks and print-on-demand paperbacks. Part of each Kickstarter I’ll run for the project will be the chance to grab them in extremely limited hardcover editions too. I’d also be happy to shop the print rights around, but I want to make sure I can get these into the hands of readers fast too.

Any parting words?

Be sure to stop by my Kickstarter page for the first trilogy for more details about it and the entire 12 for ’12 project. If you don’t think I can manage this, that’s fine. I want you to dare me to give it my best shot. Thanks for your support!

Related posts:

1. Matt Forbeck tells us about Amortals
2. Preview of Amortals by Matt Forbeck
3. Discussing Eberron and Blood Bowl fiction with Matt Forbeck

Escape from Zombie City (A One Way Out Novel) by Ray Wallace has been released in Trade Paperback (the eBook is coming soon!) by The Zombie Feed Press, an imprint of Apex Publications. Below in an interview with Ray by The Zombie Feed.

The Zombie Feed: Who is your biggest literary influence, and why?

Ray Wallace: That’s a tough one. There are so many. But if I was forced to choose just one then I guess I’d have to go with Clive Barker. The Books of Blood are still some of the best horror collections ever written. I’ve always loved the way he merges the beautiful with the grotesque. And his ability to describe utterly fantastic worlds and creatures is truly awesome at times. Whenever I read one of his stories it makes me want to sit down at the computer immediately and start writing.

Have you always enjoyed the zombie sub-genre or did you just recently amble into it? Why do you think people are crazy about zombies?

I’ve been a fan of zombie movies/books/comics for quite a while now. Besides the Romero films, two of my favorite horror movies have to be The Return of the Living Dead and Reanimator. I was really into collecting the Deadworld comics when they were out. And I still consider Philip Nutman’s Wet Work and the Book of the Dead collections, edited by Skipp and Spector, to be some of the best contributions to the zombie literary sub-genre.

I think that if you’re into horror at all then you have to be a fan of zombies. Especially the concept of the undead taking over the world. It’s pretty much the ultimate horror concept: global pandemic, cannibalism, post-apocalypse survival, and a very grim and disturbing concept of an afterlife. What’s not to enjoy?

Escape from Zombie City is a modern day ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ book. Why go in this direction, instead of penning a ‘regular’ novel? What inspired you to write EFZC?

I used to love Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was a kid. And it’s always been in the back of my mind that I wanted to write one some day. When that day arrived, the concept of putting the reader in the midst of a zombie outbreak just seemed like a natural fit, a “no brainer” if you will.

EFZC is pretty fast-paced. What do you think is more scary: slow moving or fast moving zombies?

I think slow moving zombies are creepier but the fast moving ones are scarier. The odds of surviving a 28 Days Later scenario for any length of time seem as though they would have to be much lower than that presented in, say, Night of the Living Dead. With Escape From Zombie City, I thought it would be cool to include both types of creatures, try and up the scare factor a bit.

I think fans of zombie and ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books will greatly enjoy EFZC, even if they don’t particularly like one or the other. Any plans to write another in the same format?

Definitely. I’ve got plenty of ideas for further One Way Out novels. And as much fun as EFZC was to write, I look forward to the next one.

One day, after being dead and buried, your corpse is reanimated. Would you hope to retain some recollection of your former life or just enjoy going on a brain-eating rampage like your fellow undead brethrens?

I think the latter scenario would be preferable. Once you’ve been transformed into a hideous monster, it would just be too painful to remember the normal, healthy individual you once were. Better to just go with the flow and enjoy that brain-eating rampage as much as you can.

Escape from Zombie City is available now at Amazon.com in Softcover Paperback or Kindle formats.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Author Mark Allan Gunnells
2. From Zombie Celebrity to Author: An Interview with Amanda Feral
3. Zombie Week: Interview With Author David Moody

The Darkest Parts of the Forest: W. Scott Poole on Monsters in America

Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and Haunting by W. Scott Poole is that long-awaited book we knew was out there, somewhere, lurking in the darkened woods of the great Unwritten, waiting to leap out and reveal terrible truths about us all.

Both a masterpiece of scholarship and a heartfelt homage to the horror genre, Monsters in America “tell[s] a story about the dark side of American history, through its monsters.”

“I took this opportunity to use the films I love as primary sources,” said Poole, “and to chase down urban legends and think about where these bad dreams come from.”

Where bad dreams come from, indeed!

In Monsters in America, we encounter a history of America and of the American psyche that is far more terrifying than we ever imagined.

This is us, folks, plain but far from simple.

For those of us who call ourselves American, Monsters in America is our history–web-like, violent, and always lurking in the corner of our eye—up to no good, blood on its hands, hellfire in its eyes.

From aliens to zombies, Poole goes into it all. He examines Americans’ love-hate relationship with witches and the wilderness, sea monsters and slavery, the Civil War and serial killers, paranoia and the atomic bomb. Monsters in America is as compelling as it is comprehensive without being over-burdened with academic jargon or objectivity.

A self-professed “lifelong horror nerd”, as well as an associate professor of history at the College of Charleston, Poole is the author of six books, including Satan in America: The Devil We Know and Never Surrender: Confederate Memory and Conservatism in the South Carolina Upcountry. He also writes about popular culture, history, and religion for such sites at Popmatters.com and Religiondispatches.org.

Poole is no stuffy academic. The writing in Monsters in America is smooth and clean and precise, like a scalpel in the hands of a loved one.

The table of content of Monsters in America suggests a linear sprint through 400+ years of American history. Don’t be fooled. Poole masterfully slides around on the silken edge of the draglines and spokes of the spider web of the past, pulling and tugging and drawing taut meaning in the darkness.

Read this book. It will make you want to sing songs of the monsters that prey upon you, just as each page sings the song of our collective past.

“So, without further ado,” writes Poole in homage to his beloved Crypt Keeper, “let us bring on the night.”

So, first things first: Are monsters real?

Absolutely.

I do not like the language of metaphor when talking the monstrous. Look, there are lots of books out there that talk about monsters as metaphors of this or that cultural crisis or anxiety. I agree that they function in that way but I also take my monsters more seriously.

Monsters are hardwired into the American experience. It matters that Frankenstein became immensely popular at a time when medical experimentation on racial minorities had become a frightening reality in American history. It matters that the science fiction genre, and sightings of flying saucers, became common during the early Cold War when American became deeply conscious of the possibility of invasion and subversion. And the all too real serial killer stalked our popular culture at a time when we were debating questions of identity, sexuality and the meaning of violence.

Now, I’m no Fortean and certainly not a ghost hunter. I think those hobbies can also end up failing to take the monster as seriously as it wants us too. But I’m also not okay with talking abstractly about the horrific when I think its part of the cultural DNA of historical experience.

In Monster in America, you resist defining monster. So, um, care to say what a monster isn’t?

If it makes you feel safe and secure, its not a monster.

When I encountered Shock Theatre in around 1976, 1977, I spent long Saturday afternoons watching the Universal Studios cycle of monster stories. I will never forget watching the Mummy, becoming convinced that by watching it I had somehow transgressed and fallen under the Mummy’s curse and then being certain that the sudden, violent thunderstorm that hit us that afternoon was somehow part of this dark and evil magic working its will on me.

I think this helped shape my view that the monster is not safe, the monster offers no stability, the monster will not make our sleep better. This does not mean they are evil…but they are always terrible, in the Old Testament sense of the term.

If it makes things feel pleasant or gives you warm fuzzies, then it’s not the monster (I’m looking at you Stephanie Meyer).

What scares you?

Ha! I love it when I get this question. It always sounds like “what scares scary things.”

Honestly, as much as I love, and I mean freaking love, watching and reading horror, it just doesn’t give me the kind of “there is something standing behind me” fear it used to. Minor frissons, no major freak-outs.

If I want some real terror, I read some Thomas Ligotti, an author that combines what’s most frightening in Lovecraft with what is most unsettling in Kafka. Or I just read Kafka. My favorite writer, William S. Burroughs, is no horror writer but there are horrific and fantastic elements in his work that do it for me beyond what even my hero Wes Craven can pull off.

And honestly, I’m mostly scared by life. I’m scared my wife or my parents or my dogs will get sick. I’m scared we’ll keep dehumanizing the poor and marginalized while claiming that corporations are people. Other people scare the hell out of me. These things are the darkest parts of the forest where the monsters hide.

I’m really afraid of drowning, by the way.

Where did Monsters in America start?

It started in my love of the genre and, in fact, I hope horror fans see it as a kind of valentine to these films and the world of freaks that surrounds them.

I want historians to read the book. I need horror people to read it.

On the scholarly side, this is really the first study of the American monster by an American historian and its a pretty weird book in some respects. A look at the endorsements alone shows that early readers and admirers of the book include not only scholars you might expect to be reading a new work of history but also horror novelists like Jonathan Maberry.

I also have to say that the idea to write this was born out of my research on a previous book called Satan in America, where I examined the cultural history of the Devil. I came across a fascinating account of sea serpent sightings in early 19th century Massachusetts that led me to researching a whole public conversation about sea monsters in 19th century America.

What exactly do you mean in the book when you say that “history issues threats as much as it inspires reflection”?

We had one bookstore on the tour that had to back out because they were counting on some support from a local library. The library said no after somebody there took a look at the book and complained about the combination of “bad language” and “controversial ideas that we don’t want to deal with the fallout from.”

History is about a confrontation with the sources of our life and lifestyle. Why do I see monsters at every moment of the American experiment? Its because the past is boneyard and we’ve built what we’ve got on top of it.

History tends to make on the list of “things that most made me want to put a pencil through my eye in school.’ Or simply described as boring. How do you make the drama of human experience boring? You tell a story of consensus instead of conflict and that’s what my textbooks do. And too many of the teachers who use them.

Monsters and their narratives of horror don’t allow you to do that.

Are there monsters you had to leave out of the book?

This is a book full to the brim with all kinds of creatures of the night, from sea serpents to serial killers. So I didn’t leave much out. There are monsters I want to spend more time with. I’m actually working on a project about the 1950s horror host Vampira in relation to the Cold War and post-WWII notions of gender.

Were I writing right now, I probably would also spend some more time on the idea of disease vectors, viruses and contagion in general as one of our new posthuman monsters. I’ve decided it was pretty boneheaded of me to connect 28 Days Later with the zombie genre instead of our growing fears of superflus and nature taking its vengeance on us.

If American history or America were a monster, what would it look like? What would its excesses be?

Something Lovecraftian. Too big, too many eyes, tentacled. And its excess would be hunger, it would be the Thing that could not stop consuming. Some of the darkest parts of our history are all about expansion triumphing over ethics.

And, like a Lovecraftian monster, apocalyptic. The dirty little secret, that squichy Thing hiding over there in the corner, is that our current lifestyle is utterly unsustainable. Why do we love the zombie apocalypse? We are laughing on our way to the gallows.

You dedicated Monsters in America to your goddaughter. What do you hope she learns from it when she is old enough to read it? What do you hope her mother will get from it now?

Niamh Carmichael is a deeply imaginative, book-loving, intellectually curious four year old that rules the world around her. She is also going through a phase of being afraid of monsters (much to my chagrin).

I worry a little that she’ll wonder at first why I dedicated such a macabre, and in some respects gloomy, book to her. I hope by then she’ll be used to her macabre and gloomy godfather. After that though I hope she’ll see it as a way to help her understand the world and its monsters. I hope it will help her see that monsters are sometimes your friends. Though never comfortable ones.

She may be my age before it means anything to her beyond, “Oh yeah, its cool he dedicated a book for me.” You can’t predict these things.

Her mom is a classicist and one of the smartest people I know in the world. The idea that anything I write could teach her something is laughable.

If the folks at Baylor University Press and you publicity team were in a monster flick, which characters would they be?

Oh God, this is may be the best question ever asked of an author in the history of the world.

I love my press, gotta say (authors don’t always love their presses…I haven’t always loved mine) so I would make the movie one of my favs, Nightmare on Elm Street. Associate Director of the Press, Nicole Smith Murphy would be Nancy. I wouldn’t give any monster a chance against that final girl. My publicist from Dechant-Hughes, Kelly Hughes would obviously be the alcoholic mom who…Ok, I’m totally kidding. She would be the Van Helsing figure, wisely guiding our heroes…if Nightmare had one of those. Billy Collins, social media guru? I peg him as the young Johnny Depp (don’t be too excited Billy, Depp’s character bites it).

Oh, and Freddy Krueger? Obviously editor –in-chief Carey Newman. Both because I like Freddy a lot and because I suspect Carey might come back as a supernatural killer. Also, I bet he owns that sweater.

Finish the sentence: “If not for Stars War…”

“…I might never have found the latch to the door to the fantastic”

Ah, here we go, the chance to yet again show myself the melodramatic Star Wars fan. But it’s a serious question because that space fable joined with my growing interest in the monsters of the 1930s to suggest a whole universe of the fantastic. The Cantina scene still feels to me like a revelatory moment. Like some veil between worlds suddenly becoming thin.

I’d add that I could finish that sentence in two other ways “I wouldn’t have all these awesome action figures” and “I might have had better, earlier luck with girls.” Well, maybe I can’t blame the latter on the Wars really.

So if this book had a soundtrack, what tracks would be on it?

Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Tom Waits. This is the soundtrack the book was written to so it makes sense to read it with the same.

I actually say in the first chapter that most historical works aim to be a highly structured Bach concerto but that history itself is the Sex Pistols, yawping at you angrily like Johnny Rotten. It’s important to remember that when trying to make sense of historical knowledge in general.

What are you watching these days?

I thought I was done with “found footage” (or at least weary of it) until I saw the Norwegian indie Trollhunter. Not as dark as the genre sometimes is but still great fun. I haven’t seen it yet but am excited about The Last Circus. Sounds like Pan’s Labyrinth meets Grindhouse.

Reading?

Been into Theodore Roszak recently. His bizarre novels Flicker and The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein reimagine gothic horror in mind-bending ways.

I’m also reading Scott Snyder’s Severed series and loving it. I’m a big Snyder fan and pretty into the dark currents in American history he taps for his stories. I loved American Vampire.

I’m a regular reader of Kirkman’s Walking Dead. And, yeah, I’m excited about the second season of the AMC series but so is everybody else in the world so who cares.

Any parting words of advice, wisdom, or caution for fellow monster fans out there?

I guess I would say this: take your monsters seriously. Maybe you just want to be left alone with your popcorn and your movie, but you know you love your monsters more than that. How do they intersect with politics, religion, your view of society? Why do you love them so much and what does that mean?

Interview by Jeremy L. C. Jones

Monsters in America is available at Amazon.com. For more information visit MonstersinAmerica.com.

Related posts:

1. Supernatural: Book of Monsters, Spirits, Demons Review
2. Magnetic Monsters Review
3. Cloverfield…monsters and movies.

B.J. Burrow is the author of a zombie novel called The Changed, which is published by Apex Book Company. B.J. also contributed stories to Apexology: Horror and The Zombie Feed Volume 1.

Flames Rising reviewer and zombie fan, Eric Pollarine, sat down with B. J. to talk undead, writing and a few other topics…

I’m going to be terribly frank, I haven’t yet, and I use the word yet because I’d like to, read “THE CHANGED,” however I have tried to get myself acquainted with the story, but for those that haven’t read it break it down for us.

A guy goes to work one day and dies… but keeps on keeping on, if you know what I mean. And hey, he has bills to pay, so he needs his job. He has a fiancé and would still like to marry her. But there are some serious Civil Rights violations happening to the undead. To fight against this injustice, our guy launches a campaign for Senator. Vote Zombie! Power to the Decomposers!

I know a great deal of other writers and creative types read Flames Rising and would love to hear how you got started with writing?

I’ve been writing my whole life. Santa brought me an electric typewriter. I received my first rejection letter from The Twilight Zone magazine. I was thirteen years old.

How do you like to work, music on, in a busy place, in a quiet room- though I imagine with the commitments to family it would be difficult to keep a sense of quiet.

How I would like to work and how I am working are two different things. Right now, I wake up at 5:15am and start writing. At 5:30 this morning, my youngest came into the room to tell me she needed to pee, and I began laughing like The Money Pit Tom Hanks: ‘All right, 4 am! I’ll get up at 4 am! Ha Ha Ha!’

Here’s what I would like: a man cave, with serious beers on tap, a sweet television, unlimited movies, walls filled with books, the desk from Deathtrap, and an elaborate computer system that someone else set up.

No music. Quiet—except for, you know, the ocean.

The next question is one I ask all authors that have penned a zombie novel, why do you believe that the zombie (as a trope/antagonist/etc) is so popular right now?

I’m not your first zombie author? I don’t know how I feel about that.

I think The Walking Dead comics tapped into a core zombie audience that has always been there—and hey, who likes horror and doesn’t like zombies? And the caliber of that series brought in the ‘fringe’ horror fans. And it made money, which always helps. Then, quicker than you can say, ‘Here’s an idea,’ Pride and Prejudice and Zombies blew up.

We will always have zombies.

Quick Monster Rankings by Popularity: 1. Vampires. 2. Zombies. 3. Slashers 4. Aliens 5. Japanese Ghosts. 6. Demons. 7. Werewolves 8. Critters (insects, snakes, etc.) 9. Sharks 10. Big Things That Eat Cities.

That’s the list. It never changes. And before you ask, no one gives a shit about Frankenstein’s monster.

Have you always been into zombies? And if so (or not) how did you arrive at zombies as a viable vehicle for a political story?

I enjoy all monsters—I’m all monster inclusive.

I had the idea for The Changed about fifteen years ago, but my idea then was that zombies could vote, so all the electoral officials were obese. I know, an SNL sketch at best. But it stuck with me.

Then I thought, what if a kid’s father was a Senator, and he died, and the kid had to kill him?

But it still wasn’t right.

It slowly evolved into what was published, with the kid being older, about to be married. When he dies, he’s the one who forms The Zombie Party and his father is the one trying to kill him—you know, to put him at peace, send his soul to heaven. Vote Zombie!

I’ve read a few of your blogs through Apex now, and it seems as if you’re actually more of a film/cinema sort of guy, is film your preferred medium to tell a story or do you have a real preference at all?

Quick Preferred Medium To Work In Ranking: 1. (and with a bullet) Novels 2. Film. 3. Television. 4. Short Stories. 5. Comics 6. Painting. 7…. If we get to 7, I’m gonna sit on the couch and watch football.

Lightening round here we go…

Boxer, Briefs or the almighty catch all, Boxer-Briefs?

I write in Briefs—the tighter the better. The rest of the time it’s Boxers or I go Brazilian Style.

Any Pets

Two dogs. A Dachshund and a poodle mutt. I have no idea how it happened.

What’s on your Ipod, unless of course you’re a Zune sort of person, in that case how are you listening to music these days, clay cylinders?

AC/DC (a little band from Australia), Cross Canadian Ragweed, and anything New Orleans (Kermit Ruffins, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, etc.). Oh, and Mastadon.

Favorite drink Alcoholic or otherwise?

Macallan Scotch, legal age.

Ok, lightening round over…I know, it was intense.

How did “The Monster Hunter,” come about?

I wanted to make a movie with my best friend, Allen Odom. We had made several ‘films’ as kids and it was always fun. It was natural to continue in college. The thing was, we needed a good idea that would lend itself to an “independent” film budget.

One night, I woke up with this idea in my mind: What if two serial killers happened to pick each other as their next victim?

The original title of the film was Natural Selection, but apparently that moved units for shit.

Did you use a different approach when writing the film, as opposed to a novel, or did you use similar techniques?

Writing screenplays is so different than novels. So much more restrictive—you’ve got to write in such a truncated way it would make Hemmingway blush. By page 30, you are 1/4 of the way done. Period. If you go over 120 pages, your last name had best be Cameron.

I don’t know if that answers your question… I tell you one thing we did I’d never do with a novel, and that’s have people over to read it out loud. To do that with a novel—no matter how much whiskey you have—would turn brutal pretty damn quick.

A question that I’ve been tiptoeing around now for a few minutes, David Carradine? How was that news for you?

When I heard, I thought: that wasn’t suicide and he wasn’t alone in that room. I wasn’t shocked or anything—I think David would agree: everyone dies.

Can people get “The Monster Hunter,” on DVD or online anywhere?

You can que it up on Netflix, buy it from Amazon, and Apex published a series of blogs I wrote on the making of the movie.

Last but not least, any advice for other starving creative types out there?

For writers, I love Nick Mamatas’ book, Starve Better.

And really, there’s no reason to starve with Taco Bell around the corner.

And here’s the thing: in whatever artistic pursuit you chose, train every f***ing day.

About the Author
B.J. Burrow co-wrote the screenplay, The Monster Hunter, which premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel and stars David Carradine. The Changed is his first novel. he lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Melissa, and two daughters. he has won his fantasy football league four out of ten times. He is currently working on his second novel.

Find out more at BJBurrow.net

Related posts:

1. Zombies of the World Review
2. First Look at Munchkin Zombies
3. Eric Pollarine interview with Derek Gunn

Dave Gross is the former editor of gaming magazines including Polyhedron, Dungeon, Dragon, Star Wars Gamer, Star Wars Insider, and Amazing Stories. If that wasn’t enough, he’s also written fiction in a number of game worlds, including the Forgotten Realms and, most recently, Golarion, the home of the Pathfinder gaming system. His new novel, Master of Devils, releases later this month. Dave took time out of his busy schedule of writing and watching kung fu movies to chat with us about his upcoming release.

Flames Rising: You have an impressive history in editing for gaming magazines and anthologies, and a whole run of Forgotten Realms novels for Wizards of the Coast. What was the path that brought you to writing fiction for Pathfinder?

Dave Gross: In 2008 I visited the World Fantasy Convention in Calgary. It was mainly a social trip to catch up with some old friends. Two of them were also former colleagues from Paizo, Director of Sales Pierce Watters and Publisher Erik Mona. Erik mentioned his plans to start a Pathfinder Tales line and asked whether I’d be interested in contributing. Already I loved what I’d seen of Golarion. The world was vast and varied, like the Forgotten Realms, but unburdened by a long history with the occasional apocalypse. The prospect of acting as a, well, pathfinder in a relatively fresh setting was too sweet to pass up. Since it would be another year before they were ready to solicit novels, Fiction Editor James Sutter invited me to pitch a novella for the Council of Thieves Adventure Path. He liked the idea that eventually became “Hell’s Pawns,” the first Radovan & the Count story. When it was time to launch the novels, he asked me to pitch an idea with the same characters. That became Prince of Wolves, the first book in the Pathfinder Tales line.

FR: Your upcoming release, Master of Devils, is your second novel featuring Count Varian Jeggare and his bodyguard Radovan, but it’s several novels into the Pathfinder Tales series. What should readers pick up before reading Master of Devils?

DG: Not a thing. In August the novel, a short story at paizo.com, and a new six-part novella in the Jade Regent Adventure Path all come out simultaneously. You can read them in any order without suffering major spoilers.

For fans of chronological order, the sequence is: “A Lesson in Taxonomy,” “Hell’s Pawns,” “The Lost Pathfinder,” Prince of Wolves, the as-yet-untitled web story for August, “Husks,” and then Master of Devils. The earlier stories are available at paizo.com in various formats, several of them for free.

FR: When you’re writing in the Pathfinder universe, how much do you think about tying the story into the game, or vice versa?

DG: In the beginning, I think much more about the setting than about game mechanics. It’s uninteresting to me to place any fantasy story in Golarion; I want to write a story that belongs there. So I research the setting the way I would research Medieval France if I were writing a Carolingian romance.

For Prince of Wolves, the homework started out pretty easy. The Principality of Ustalav existed in only six pages of description, but it was evocative stuff. My favorite parts of those pages went into my brainstorming notes. I knew I wanted to include the worship of the prominent deities of the region, and there was much more material on them in other game books. When I read the description of the courtly intrigue in Caliphas, I knew I had to include several noble schemers as supporting players. Virtually every character and event in the novel comes from my imagining what would “feel true” in this corner of Golarion.

At some point I start thinking of ways the game mechanics can help tell the story. For instance, Pathfinder Harrowers are fortune-tellers, usually frauds but sometimes “True Harrowers.” Deciding that one of my characters is a phony who is as surprised as anyone else when her cards prove prophetic was a fun way to suggest the hand of fate while leaving doubt in the minds of characters and readers alike. I also like to bend the rules when it adds mystery without detracting from the logic of the setting. So my unexpected “True Harrower” turns up a card that doesn’t exist in the standard Harrow deck, and one of my protagonists discovers an unorthodox method of casting spells.

Master of Devils was a different situation. The novel had to be finished before the setting was complete. Fortunately, the Paizo creative team entrusted me with one of the Successor States of Imperial Lung Wa, and I ended up contributing three countries to the setting book.  While kung fu movies inspired the action scenes, I often paused to think of whether the extraordinary moves were things characters can do in the game—like snatching an arrow out of the air or fooling an opponent with a feint. When the action didn’t fit the rules, sometimes I altered the scene to make it more “believable” to a Pathfinder player. But sometimes I left it more true to the movies and trusted that a designer would sweep in behind me and, for example, add Burning Cloud Devil’s flying fireball to a later supplement.

FR: On your blog over at the Alliterates, you’ve reviewed several kung fu movies recently as a tie in to your new release, since Master of Devils takes place at a warrior monastery in Pathfinder’s Asian-flavored setting. Could you talk a little bit about your inspiration, and about any challenges you encountered tying your cinema inspirations into the Pathfinder world?

DG: After I finished Prince of Wolves, James Sutter and I chatted about what the boys might do next. At PaizoCon 2010 we spitballed various ideas, but none of them stuck. Then I remembered that the Tian Xia setting would come out about a year later, around the time I could finish another novel. I’m a huge dork for Asian cinema, so my hand shot up like Arnold Horshack’s, “Ooh, ooh, ooooh!” We caught Erik Mona outside the lounge, he gave us his blessing, and five minute later we had a plan.

Since the Adventure Path takes characters to Golarion’s version of Japan, James preferred that I set the novel elsewhere in Tian Xia. That was perfect for me, since I love Chinese wuxia movies (let’s call ‘em “kung fu movies”) even more than samurai films.

Taking inspiration from these films was the opposite of a challenge. More than anything from Hollywood, kung fu movies capture the essence of fantasy roleplaying. Also, it was no great hardship to revisit scores of my favorite films and discover a few dozen more as I did my research. For those who’d like to explore them, I’ll post more movie recommendations on my site and others over the next weeks.

Many kung fu films include the amazing fight scenes for which the Shaw Brothers became famous. Some are more romantic, like King Hu’s classics or Zhang Yimou’s marriage of wuxia and art-house. Others are full of over-the-top magic and supernatural creatures, like the fantasy films of Tsui Hark. I wanted to reflect all three of these sub-genres, but I didn’t want to jumble a plot with conflicting tones. Thus, Radovan’s journey takes him all over the countryside, where he faces deadly martial arts masters. Varian’s story, told mostly at Dragon Temple, contains more romance and intrigue. And for the really crazy supernatural stuff … well, I don’t want to give away the surprise to those who haven’t already heard the readings, but the third point-of-view character goes places and meets beings that the other two can’t. Near the end, these separate worlds gradually blend into each other before they finally converge. The fun of plotting Master of Devils was that there is ultimately only one story, just many different paths by which to reach it.

FR: For people who aren’t familiar with Paizo’s Adventure Path monthly resource, can you talk a little bit about how the novellas you’ve written to tie into the adventure paths have worked?

DG: The novellas appear in installments within the Adventure Paths, six chapters each. The one thing the fiction and the adventure have in common is the general setting. Thus, the events of “Hell’s Pawns” take place in Cheliax, but in the city of Egorian rather than Westcrown, where the events of Council of Thieves occur. Likewise, “Husks” occurs in Minkai, but in a different city from the final chapters of Jade Regent. I know practically nothing about the adventures when I pitch the story, so any connections of theme or other elements are entirely coincidental.

FR: If you had to pick your top five kung fu movies that everyone should watch, what would they be?

DG: I use the term “kung fu movie” pretty loosely, but the dangerous word here is “favorite.” I wouldn’t necessarily recommend my favorites films to everyone, and my top picks change frequently. I’ve recommended “essential kung fu movies for gamers” elsewhere, so here are five that I can watch over and over again, in no particular order: Hero, Mr. Vampire, Reign of Assassins, A Chinese Ghost Story, and The Bride with White Hair. I’ll keep recommending other films at my author blog at frabjousdave.blogspot.com with links on Facebook and Twitter.

FR: Given your work with role-playing games, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you’re probably in a game or two right now. What games are you playing?

DG: While I have a local gaming group who’ve played in the Pathfinder setting with both D&D and Pathfinder rules, we often go on hiatus when I’m on deadline. Lately we’ve begun the first installment of the Jade Regent Adventure Path. I’m also a fan of but rarely get to play Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars Saga edition, and World of Darkness, among other systems. Usually I get my gaming fix from board games, most of them equally geeky.

FR: As someone who loves reading e-books, can you guess when readers will be able to get Master of Devils in an e-book format? (I see that most of the rest are available in epub format on the Paizo site.)

DG: Judging from recent releases, Paizo should have a PDF and ePub version of Master of Devils available for purchase at their site around the time of the physical book’s release in late July or early August. While they don’t currently distribute via Kindle, free apps like Calibre can convert ePub files to Kindle format.

FR: Thanks so much for chatting with us, Dave! Flames Rising readers, be sure to check out Dave’s essay on dark fantasy and kung fu movies as well — the two may have more in common than you think! Keep an eye out for Master of Devils, appearing soon on bookstore shelves near you.

Related posts:

1. Dave Gross on Dark Fantasy in Kung Fu Movies
2. Behind Plague of Shadows, a Pathfinder Novel
3. 30 Haunts for Houses (Pathfinder) Review

James Lowder has been active as a writer and editor sine the 1980s, most famous perhaps for authoring the novel Knight of the Black Rose for TSR, and for editing the All Flesh Must Be Eaten fiction anthologies Book of All Flesh, Book of More Flesh and Book of Final Flesh. More recently, he edited the essay collection Family Games: The 100 Best, and fiction anthologies Curse of the Full Moon and The Best of All Flesh.

I chatted recently with Jim via email about some of his most recently completed projects: Triumph of The Walking Dead – a collection of essays on the longrunning comics series and AMC network’s successful TV series – and Silent Knife and Strangeness in the Proportion, two novels from White Wolf publishing currently being serialized on the White Wolf web site and awaiting print publication.

How did you get involved with the anthology Triumph of The Walking Dead?

I contributed essays to two earlier books in BenBella’s Smart Pop line, King Kong is Back! and The Unauthorized X-Men, and we’ve discussed several projects over the past few during. Smart Pop editor-in-chief Leah Wilson and I trade emails from time to time, and during the course of one of these email chats I suggested The Walking Dead as a potential subject for an essay collection.

This was right around the time the AMC series launched. I was thinking I’d be a contributor to the book if it went forward, but BenBella decided that my work with zombie-related fiction, film, and comics made me a good candidate to edit it. The approach and tone of the Smart Pop line—commentary with some intellectual heft to it, but written in a lively, accessible style—is ideal for this topic. I never tire of the subject of zombies and my experiences working with BenBella have been uniformly positive, so taking on the project was an easy decision.

Are there any authors you wanted to have involved in ToTWD that just couldn’t work it into their schedule?

It would have been great if I could have wrangled a piece from Robert Kirkman himself, or from Charlie Adlard or Tony Moore—the people behind the comics. I tried to line those up, but they never came together. That’s not a surprise. They’re all quite busy after the incredible success of The Walking Dead in its various incarnations.

Otherwise, my initial list of potential authors was longer than the final table of contents could be. Not everyone I contacted was able to participate, but I am very pleased with the final line-up. The essayists are all critics and creators who have written about zombies in one form or another. In addition, most are writers I’d not edited before. That was another reason I jumped at the chance to shepherd the book; I knew I was going to get the opportunity to work for the first time with a lot of people whose work I admire.

Given your extensive resume with previous zombie anthologies, what makes this one different?

Zombies do indeed shamble through a lot of the things I’ve published. Many of my experiences with zombie-related projects have been with fiction, though, whether editing The Book of All Flesh or writing the living dead into my own novels and stories. Because Triumph of The Walking Dead is non-fiction, with a relatively tight thematic focus, it presented a different set of editorial challenges from the ones I faced editing the Books of Flesh anthologies. The essayists reach very different conclusions about the morality of Rick Grimes’ actions as leader, for example. If this were a collection of short stories, I could let each tale stand as a distinct, unconnected vision.

But the essays in this book are all talking about the same source material, so as editor I needed to make certain the different perspectives work together as parts of a larger dialogue, rather than as isolated, conflicting fragments. I also wanted to give readers a lot of different angles on The Walking Dead, from pieces discussing the material in the context of comic book history or the history of violence on television, to detailed explorations of specific characters and themes. This required more targeted editorial direction. For the reader, I hope this effort results in an anthology that will be surprising and thought-provoking.

Zombies were all the rage for a while, but seemed to be falling out of vogue recently; has the AMC television series The Walking Dead revitalized the zombie genre in pop culture?

The media magnates who chase fads jumped on the living dead bandwagon for a while. Now they’re off breathlessly pursuing some other hot pop-culture trend. I don’t know that the AMC television series will revitalize the zombie craze, and in a way I hope it doesn’t. So much material was pumped out during the “Zombie Renaissance” that kicked off in 2003 or so that it has sometimes been difficult for inventive, passion-driven work to find an audience. After the shelves get crowded enough, it’s too easy to dismiss it all as just more market-driven product with brain-munching dead things in it.

The Walking Dead has continued to thrive even after the zombie fad cooled because it is top-notch storytelling, both the comic and the AMC series. The fact that so many serious creators and critics had thoughtful things to say about it in Triumph of The Walking Dead is a testament to its weight. I like to think that this sort of quality work will continue to draw readers and viewers. For me, I was publishing books and stories featuring the living dead before the Zombie Renaissance and I’ll continue to do so, fad or no fad.

Silent Knife and Strangeness in the Proportion have been in the works for a while, and are currently serialized on the White Wolf website. When will those be available as print editions?

It has been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been working on the two books as editor since 2007. Both were the result of a contest White Wolf ran for World of Darkness novels. After they selected the winning entries, Stewart Wieck and Rich Thomas brought me on board to help the two first-time novelists whip their books into shape. Initially, the plan was to publish the books in traditional print form in 2008, but changes in the book market led us to look at different approaches and the release dates shifted and then shifted again. Ultimately we settled on serializing the novels weekly on the White Wolf website. All of Strangeness in the Proportion has been posted and we’re partway through Silent Knife. Both will eventually be collected as ebooks and should also be released in print, though we’re still finalizing plans.

The changes in the publication plans for the novels have actually turned out to be an incredible boon. Joshua Doestch, the author of Strangeness in the Proportion, and David Nurenberg, the author of Silent Knife, have had the opportunity to rework the manuscripts and really make them shine. Rich Thomas and Eddy Webb at White Wolf deserve a lot of credit for turning what should have been a disappointment—no author likes to hear that his or her first book is going to be delayed in its release for a couple years—into an opportunity for the authors to hone their craft.

How did you like working in the World of Darkness?

The World of Darkness is terrific. The creative people who first imagined the world and all the talented designers and writers and artists who have added to the setting over the years have produced what has to be described as the premiere shared horror setting. What makes the World of Darkness a great place for writers and editors, though, is the way in which the White Wolf staff supports and respects their creativity.

I’ve had the pleasure of both editing World of Darkness material, with Strangeness in the Proportion and Silent Knife, and writing in the setting, with game material in Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom and short stories in the anthologies Truth Until Paradox, City of Darkness: Unseen, and The Splendour Falls. All those projects have been studies in the way shared-world publishing should work.

Having done a great deal of both, do you have a preference for being a writer or an editor?

I find editing easier. It’s not the painful process writing seems to be for me most of the time. But I enjoy writing more; it’s more fulfilling creatively. I hope to fit some new writing projects into my schedule in the next few months. I’m currently wrapping up two short stories and two comic book scripts, all of which should see print by the end of the year. It’s actually been a while since I published any fiction, so I’m looking forward to getting those stories in front of readers.

Interview by Bill Bodden

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3. James Lowder’s The Screaming Tower

I first met Mr. Braunbeck when I was a grunt at the Borderlands Writers Boot Camp. To Each Their Darkness is his guide for writers and in some ways it expands upon many of the gems he gave to those of us at the workshop. As one of the newest writing manuals on the market it is undoubtedly one of the best, using the personal to impart the practical. Comparable to Stephen King’s On Writing, To Each Their Darkness takes writers on a journey to discovering how to use their own dark experiences in their work, without becoming a slave to that same darkness that can hold one hostage.

But it is more than just a writing guide. And it should be read by more than just those working professionally as writers or those aiming to. Anyone that is interested in the sweat that goes into creating their favorite horror novels, short stories, or movies; anyone that is interested in the process that the writer must often go through before getting the words from his or her head-space and onto the page; anyone in a personal relationship of any kind with a writer — especially a writer of darker works — should read this book.

Gary Braunbeck has been gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to answer some interview questions about TETD and the writing life. Without further ado, Gary Braunbeck, in his own words.

- – -

You write about a lot of painful, personal experiences in TETD. How did you come to the decision to include them?

GB: There’s a line early in the book that states — and I’m paraphrasing here because I don’t have the book in front of me — that in order for something to stand as an actual opinion and not a simple preface to one, such as, “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it,” said prefaces have to be followed by reasons why, and in order for you to understand the reason why this person reached said opinion, you need to know something about the person who’s offering the opinion. Much of the personal information I offer in To Each Their Darkness is intended to illustrate to readers “how” I reached certain opinions about the horror field, and why those were the opinions at which I arrived. I talk a lot about other writers’ work in the book, particularly in a section that reprints about 6 introductions I wrote for others’ books, and it’s my sincere hope that by the time readers get to this section, they’ll go in with a fuller understanding of how and why I reached the conclusions and opinions that offer. (Also, hopefully, it will cause readers to seek out those books.)

Besides, one cannot write about the darker aspects of the human condition — and I won’t apologize for using that oft- and unjustifiably-maligned phrase — unless one has experienced some aspect, small or large, of it for him- or herself.

How difficult was that?

GB: The difficulty wasn’t in dredging up some rather unpleasant details from my past, the difficulty came when I began to associate these details with my own fiction in order to illustrate how a person can use horror and dark fantasy as a possible — sometimes necessary — form of self-exorcism. I’ve been carrying a lot of nastiness around for most of my life, and until I hit my mid-thirties, that nastiness defined me in my own eyes. I was not a nice person. Most days I still can’t think of myself as one of the “good guys.” To be completely honest, I write what I write in an effort to someday find a way to forgive myself. Haven’t gotten there yet but it’s been a helluva ride thus far.

How do you think writers can find balance between work and life?

GB: By knowing how to define him- or herself beyond being a story-teller. I know dozens of writers who define themselves as a parent, a sister, a friend, an in-law, an activist,etc. — and this is the manner in which they define themselves as they work to maintain the life they’ve built for themselves and their family, and they’re among the happiest, kindest, most compassionate human beings you could ever hope to meet. Calling themselves “writers” usually comes five or six lines down the list. My problem has always been that I’ve defined myself solely as a writer, so I can’t really offer you a solid answer to your question — and I’m not trying to be cute or evasive, but I’ve yet to be able to strike that balance.

What do you think is the best way writers can get in touch with the darkness in their lives in order to use it in their writing, without being consumed by it?

GB: Ah, there’s the rub, as Willy S. [William S. Burroughs] would say. But what I’ve found helps achieve that goal — that necessary emotional distance — is to view whatever darknesses from your life as simply story material. William Goldman has a great line at the end of his novel The Color of Light that goes: “Life is material, you just have to live long enough to figure out how to use it.” You have the opportunity to take events Q, R, and S and reshape them so that they enhance the story and theme of the piece. Just don’t start out by using an incident from your past whole-cloth because “…that’s the way it really happened.”

Fiction doesn’t give a shit about how something “really happened,” it’s only interested in how this thing can be reshaped to serve the story. If it doesn’t serve the story, then you can bet your ass you’ve fallen victim to creative self-indulgence and that whatever you produce is going to read more like apologist fiction, and that will cripple a writer’s resolve; there’s nothing quite like realizing that, because you forced an element or passage into a story where it didn’t belong, you have unleashed the literary equivalent of a Cleveland Steamer into the world.

You talk about lyrical styles in TETD. Can you elaborate a bit?

GB: I get so tired of reading journeyman-level prose, I really do. But at the same time, prose that is so purple dense as to be impenetrable is equally frustrating. I began gravitating toward a more “lyrical” style of prose because of watching re-runs of 1950s live television dramas, and then The Twilight Zone. Particularly in the 1950s live dramas, the writers had a damn-near impossible task: to capture and maintain the attention and emotions of a post-WWII generation that had only recently made the transition from radio to movies, and now here comes this newfangled whatchamacallit named “television,” and it promises to be just as good as the other two outlets. Problem was, the TV dramas didn’t have the bigger budgets, the studios wherein they performed the plays were, at best, the size of three janitor’s closets with a kitchenette thrown in, and — and this is the kicker — most of the directors only had two cameras to work with (some had to make due with one).

The sets were sparse and cramped, the conditions were impossible, so they had one thing and one thing only to keep viewers’ attention: the writing. And the dialogue these writers gave to their characters was wondrous; literate and brittle and sprinkled with affecting metaphors — they were like operas minus the music. And it never sounded phony — and that’s because these writers knew how give each character a definitive cadence to their speech patterns, often by employing a method of repetition that, as far as I can tell, began with the writings of Gertrude Stein and Mao Tse-tung (to this day, whenever I read something that’s been translated from Chinese, it reads like Gertrude Stein). It is an unapologetic rhetorical mode that builds everything upon repetition and the rhythm created by that repetition. When this type of prose — be it in narrative or dialogue — really catches fire, it establishes the unit of sense not in the clause or the sentence, but in the discursion — no easy feat. You can find this kind of language in the writings of Eastern mystics like Sri Chinmoy-Ghose and the Avatar Meher-Baba, but it’s also all over the Old Testament as well as the Koran and that good old standby Kahlil Gibran.

But here’s the thing: once you’ve learned to recognize this type of lyrical language, once the cadences become recognizable, you’ll realize that this form of language is everywhere, and you’ll never be able to un-recognize it. You’ll find that this form of language will find a way to merge with your own emerging voice as a writer, enriching it, expanding it, clarifying and elevating it to a level near-poetry … and yet read as naturally as everyday speech.

Upcoming works and last thoughts for this interview? Thanks!

GB: I’m currently finishing a novella for Tasmaniac Publications entitled Clipper Girls that I will have finished before my birthday, then I’m doing a novella for Delirium’s novella series, another novella for Michael Knost’s upcoming anthology Barbershop Quartet (horror/dark fantasy stories set in and around barbershops), finishing the 3rd Cedar Hill collection for Paul Miller at Earthling, and the final Cedar Hill novel, A Cracked and Broken Path for the amazing folks at Apex. There are a few other projects, but I don’t want to jinx them by mentioning them before anything’s been signed.

Thank you so much for inviting me to be interviewed. This was fun. I dug it.

Interview by Nancy O. Greene

Related posts:

1. Gary Braunbeck’s Introduction from To Each Their Darkness

FlamesRising.com is pleased to present you with an in-depth look at Paths of Storytelling, White Wolf Publishing’s latest release for Vampire: the Masquerade.

Joining us today is the developer of this product, Eddy Webb, along with the trio of authors: Jess Hartley, Kelley Barnes and Monica Valentinelli.

For your part in Paths of Storytelling, what was your goal?

EDDY: My job was to help the writers come up with something appropriately cheesy yet plausibly accurate, and then stitch all the threads together into one manuscript. I also wrote the first and last sections.

KELLEY: I was so excited to be asked to take part in the time-honored April 1st project for White Wolf. I read Chuck Wendig’s Dudes of Legend in draft form last year, and listened to critical editing discussions about the charms in Scroll of Swallowed Darkness the year before that. I was both awed and jealous of the people who were tapped for this special release. Happily, a ‘bucket list’ item on my life list can now be marked as done.

My goal with this writing assignment was to embrace the surface stereotype of the Toreador clan and roll with it and in it. Rose Motif? Check. The impossibly beautiful vampire that everyone stares at and wants? Check. Melodrama? Lots of conversation? Check again. I even tried to incorporate fallen-out-of-use vocabulary to add that feeling of grandiose self-importance – like quellazaire – but thankfully slightly over the top tendency was reigned in.

JESS: I was thrilled to have been given the Malkavian portion of the Paths of Storytelling project. One of my pet peeves throughout my experience with the World of Darkness is the mistaken perception that insanity (intrinsic in the portrayal of this clan) is goofy or amusing. Anyone who’s actually dealt with someone with a vastly different perception of reality knows that it’s not funny or silly. At its best, it’s confusing and challenging. At its worst, it’s heart-breaking and terrifying. I really wanted to represent that, in the Malkavian Paths of Storytelling section.

MONICA: When I was asked to do the project, I couldn’t stop bouncing for weeks. Before I wrote anything for the Gangrel path, I poured through all my old material for Vampire: the Masquerade — including the TV show. I felt that matching the voice and the feel of the setting was crucial to the joke’s believability, which was part of the reason why I dropped in signature characters like Karsh, El Diablo Verde and a few other familiar faces. It was really fascinating for me to map out, because the goal was to introduce Vampire: the Masquerade to a fictitious reader, all the while knowing that the person most likely reading it would be someone who knew the setting. So in this path, the reader doesn’t just become a Gangrel, they get introduced to Vampire: the Masquerade.

How integral was the design to your Clan?

JESS: Since the most common identifying feature of Clan Malkavian is their madness, I wanted to be able to represent that in the design of the project right from the start. So the first choice (after opting to become Malkavian) that the reader is faced with determines whether they will spend the rest of their path-options dealing with Paranoia or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. While I never specified the derangements specifically, the Malkavian paths really separated at that initial choice and each of the two paths was written as if the reader was seeing the world through the filters of their particular derangement.

It made the story more challenging to create, I think. Without a lot of opportunity for doubling back to loop into previous options, I had essentially half the number of words available to get the reader from starting point to satisfactory ending. I did cheat a bit, there’s one point where the two derangements streams cross, but for the most part, the downhill slope is separate for each of the two derangement options.

MONICA: After I developed a metaplot, I decided to structure the paths in a way that initially affected the reader on a personal level. Then, as the story continued, the reader’s choices tie directly into the metaplot and how the Gangrel fit into that story. If you get the chance to read through it a few times, you may see a couple of references to earlier points on the Vampire: The Masquerade Revised timeline. Many of those references are intentionally subtle to provide the reader with an immersive experience since it’s written in the second person.

KELLEY: I’ve enjoyed playing Toreador in tabletop and LARP over the years and feel that most players approach this vampire archetype in one of two ways: reverently or tongue-in-cheek. I tried to touch on both with the idea of the embrace, the revelations of the Masquerade and the variety of endings taking place over the span of the same night. In pure soap opera format, how many bad things would you the reader have to endure in a few hours of unlife? One thing that did inspire me I while rewriting the first draft was reading the work of my fellow authors – specifically their use of signature characters for their paths. I altered some of my work to incorporate Victoria Ash, from the Toreador Clanbook revised because of their amazing contributions.

Can you tell us a little bit about how your path ends?

KELLEY: I got a little ‘ending happy’ I think. Each time I finished one route of Morgan’s story, another idea popped into my head. I even sent Eddy, Jess and Monica a flow chart of scenes for the Toreador path and in the end I included six possible resolutions, with the nicest one being eternal servitude to Victoria Ash. I hope that our fans think the other five endings for Toreador are appropriately angsty.

MONICA: Kelley’s flow chart should have been its own download. I was seriously impressed!

For the Gangrel path there are two endings; I could have easily written more, but I was running into the problem of: “But wait! I have more stories to tell and I’m out of time!” Since a few people have already mentioned it, one of the endings is a wrestling face-off between the reader and El Diablo Verde, the Nosferatu luchador. I took the phrase “No One Defeats El Diablo Verde!” and ran with it. The other ending ties back into the metaplot, but I’m not going to spoil it for you. Let’s just say I was inspired by something specific that happened a few centuries back. Given the choice, I’d take getting pummeled by El Diablo Verde over the other option. At least you know what you’re getting into when you step into the ring with that wrestling legend.

EDDY: I wrote the only “good” ending, the one that results in Golconda. Of course, none of the paths actually allow you to get to it. Partially this was designed as a way to sell the joke that this was a World of Darkness product (everything has a bad outcome), but it was also a nod to the book “Inside UFO 54-40,” which also had a false end that you couldn’t get to without cheating.

JESS: *chuckles* It’s Vampire – there’s no such thing as a completely happy ending! However, some of the ending options are, shall we say, more permanent than others. There’s actually one universal loop option available, which was something I really wanted to try to incorporate in. But, while some folks may be disappointed by the lack of sunshine and rainbows happy endings available, I think that each of the available endings acts as its own cautionary tale. In the World of Darkness, actions beget consequences, and sometimes you’ve got nothing but bad and worse options to choose from, meaning the consequences coming from those options are pretty bleak as well.

Still, I hope that they’re interesting and exciting fates, despite the horror. Isn’t that what the World of Darkness is all about?

- – -

If you haven’t picked up your copy of Paths of Storytelling, you can find multiple e-book formats for ninety-nine cents at DriveThruRPG.com or at the FlamesRising RPGNow Shop.

For more information about the twentieth edition of Vampire: the Masquerade, visit www.vampirethemasquerade.com.

Related posts:

1. Help Us Interview White Wolf for Strange, Dead Love
2. Paths of Storytelling: Character Stats for Sapphire GoldenClaw
3. Interview with Jess Hartley, Freelance Author & Editor

Flames Rising is pleased to present an in-depth interview with author and game designer Robin Laws. An industry veteran, Laws has published role-playing games, supplements, novels and fiction for several companies. His works range from The Esoterroists, produced by Pelgrane Press, to his upcoming Pathfinder novel, which will be released through Paizo this spring.

Today, we sit down with Robin to discuss horror in role-playing games, his work on the GUMSHOE system, and his endeavors as an editor and novelist.

How do you feel GUMSHOE fits into the horror genre?

Did you have specific elements you wanted to avoid in Gumshoe?

The Trail of Cthulhu game line also uses the GUMSHOE system. Can you elaborate?

What’s so horrifying about a game like Mutant City Blues?

Do you have any horror gaming experiences that stand out in your mind?

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Any other recent games stand out in your mind?

Besides your work as a game designer, you’re also a novelist and have penned short stories. Can you tell us about your works?

Earlier, you announced you’re the Creative Director for Stone Skin Press. Can you tell us about it?

You’ve also written screenplays and comics. Can you describe those experiences?

There’s a lot of talk these days about the future of gaming. Where do you think it will go?

Related posts:

1. Interview with Author Gabrielle Faust
2. Cthulhu Week: Inmates by Robin D. Laws
3. Interview with Joe R Lansdale

Matt Forbeck has been a staple in the RPG industry for many years. With stints working for Games Workshop, Pinnacle Entertainment and Human Head Studios, and with design credits from Deadlands and Brave New World to Mutant Chronicles and the Leverage tabletop role-playing game, Matt has enough experience that the title “veteran” hardly seems adequate. Matt and I sat down to hash out a few questions regarding his most recent novel, Amortals, from Angry Robot Books.

What inspired you to write a dystopian, futuristic novel?

The idea that I had for the novel required a dark future. I wanted to set up a mystery in which the hero had to solve his own murder given only a recording of his demise, a snuff film that had been released for anyone to see. To pull that off, I either needed to go with some spectacular magic or technology, and I chose to plunge into the future.

Besides that, I’ve always been a fan of dark, near-future science fiction — call it cyberpunk if you like, although it’s broader than that these days — but had never till that point had a chance to try my hand at writing a full sci-fi novel. The closest I’d come was the novelization of the Mutant Chronicles film, but that’s more “techno-fantasy,” as we called it. Many years before that, I’d written The Big Dance, a novel for Reaper’s CAV game, which pitted giant robots against each other. While that’s clearly science fiction, it’s about giant robots battling it out, which makes for an entirely different tone.

Fortunately, I got to scratch that itch. While I’d written 13 novels before Amortals, it was the first one I’d written that wasn’t a tie-in to a game or a film. I’m grateful that Angry Robot bought the novel from me on the basis of a painfully short pitch and set me free to write it.

Do you think calling Amortals “dystopian” is fair?

Not technically. It’s a dark future, but it has its better points too. It’s more like Blade Runner than 1984. There’s no all-pervasive government that oversees and controls every aspect of its citizen’s lives. It’s intrusive, sure, but in the same sense that our current government can be intrusive when it likes.

In fact, in many ways, the future of Amortals is no darker than the world we live in now. The metaphor of the future gives us the distance we need to be able to examine issues from a cooler perspective, but it doesn’t mean that the issues have changed much if at all over the years.

What qualities – both positive and negative – do you like to write into your characters?

I like to run the gamut and play with all sorts of characters. Most of them are fairly sensible sorts, if only because it’s easier to believe in a character that’s not a complete loon. I try to give even my so-called bad guys reasonable motivations. If you study them long enough, you might find yourself starting to agree with them. That doesn’t make them right, of course, just possessed of a powerful point of view that contradicts that of the protagonist.

I’ve noticed that I like to write about heroes though, people who are willing to stand up and do what they think is right, no matter how hard it is. They might be weary or reluctant or just plain pissed off at the world, but they never turn their back on it.

You’ve done a lot of writing for RPGs; how is writing a stand-alone novel different? Is it easier or harder (or about the same) than writing an RPG book?

It’s a whole different animal and uses different parts of the brain. With an RPG, you build an entire world and populate it with all sorts of reasons and opportunities for adventure. With a novel, you pick one story and follow it all the way through. It’s limiting in that way, but it also means you as the author have absolute control over the story, which frees you up at the same time.

In an RPG, the players control the story at least as much as the game’s designer. You cannot predict what they’re going to do, and the more you try the more frustrated you’re likely to become. With a novel, though, you get to handle it all. The responsibilities and rewards for each type of work have miles between them.

Do you intend to write a sequel to Amortals?

I’d love to. The novel comes to an abrupt end at what is the climactic part of Ronan’s story, but it also supplies a clear impetus for what could be at least a whole new novel’s worth of tales. I’m actually going to be suggesting this to Angry Robot soon, along with a raft of other ideas I’m pursuing.

I understand you have another new novel on the near horizon, Vegas Knights. Can you give us a thumbnail sketch of the premise?

A couple of college freshman pick up a little bit of magic and decide to head to Las Vegas over Spring Break to see if they can use their tricks to score big. Unfortunately for them, they discover that they’re far from the first people to come up with this idea. The magic mob catches on to them, and it all spirals out of control from there in spectacular and painful ways.

That’s the key phrase for a thriller, by the way: “spirals out of control from there.” If it’s a comedy instead, you use “hilarity ensues.”

Is Angry Robot publishing this novel as well? Are you slated to write more novels for AR?

This is another Angry Robot book, just like Amortals. They’re great people, and I’ve been thrilled with them so far. I don’t have any other novels under contract with them at the moment, but we’re in the middle of discussing plans for the future right now. I have high hopes that you’ll see many more of my books from them in the future.

I know publishers have cut way back on this sort of promotion, but is there a thought that you might do a book signing tour?

As an indie publisher, Angry Robot doesn’t send any of its authors on tour, and honestly I’m not sure how much good such things do these days for any but the bestselling authors. That said, I always enjoy meeting with people who enjoy my work. I’m going to be at a number of conventions this spring and a few more over the summer and fall. For updates on that, people should check my schedule on my website.

If book or game stores would like to have you in for a signing, how can they get in touch with you?

If a store would like to have me in for a signing — or if a convention would like to have me attend as a guest, or if a school would like to have me in as a speaker — all they have to do is ask. They can contact me at matt@forbeck.com with the dates, location, and any other details. I’ll check that against my schedule and see what we can work out. I’m always happy to do what I can to help people get my books into readers’ hands.

Interview by Bill Bodden

Related posts:

1. 12 for ’12 Interview with Matt Forbeck
2. Amortals Novel Review
3. Preview of Amortals by Matt Forbeck

The Limitlessness of Horror: Mark Allan Gunnells talks about Life in the Asylum

They are safe in a night club, doors closed and barred. The undead can’t get them. They are safe, right? Who will protect them from themselves? There may be chaos outside, but inside the “asylum” isn’t all that much better.

Mark Allan Gunnells recent novella, Asylum (The Zombie Feed/Apex Publications), takes Romero-style zombies and situations and populates them with complex (and deeply compelling) characters who, as Gunnells says below, happen to be gay.

“My focus isn’t on the zombies themselves—though there is flesh-eating goodness to be had, don’t get me wrong—but instead on the characters trying to survive,” said Gunnells. “In many ways, Asylum is a character study of this group of survivors.”

The resulting novella is simultaneously rich in tradition and fresh with contemporary relevance. Most importantly, of course, Asylum is a damn good story well told.

Gunnells is a horror writer living in the small South Carolina town he grew up in. He’s been writing horror fiction since he was a kid, publishing stories since he graduated from college.

“Horror is about limitlessness, about anything being possible,” said Gunnells, “and I embrace the freedom of that.

Elsewhere, Gunnells has joked about using fiction as a way to seek revenge on the bullies of his past, yet his stories are too layered, too richly textured to be simple wish-fulfillment.

Now he has three books out or forthcoming in the next few months. Ironically, he went almost a year without publishing a story and now the floodgates have opened. In addition to Asylum, Gunnells has Tales from the Midnight Shift, Volume 1 (Sideshow Press) and Whisonant (Sideshow Press) due out in early 2011.

So this interview finds you in the midst of three releases, one out in December 2010 and two more in early 2011. Has it sunk in yet?

No, I’m still very much in the mindset of “I can’t believe they are going to give me money for stuff I made up in my head.” And honestly, I hope I never lose that. This comes at the end of a very dry year. Last month I published my short story “Dancing in the Dark” with Darkside Digital, and it was the first thing I’d published all year. It’s nice to close out a dry year like this. Helps boost my confidence going into 2011.

What do you enjoy about writing? What do you not enjoy?

I guess what I enjoy most about writing is finding out what happens next. For me, writing is an act of discovery as much as it is creation. [I write] whatever comes to mind. I find inspiration for stories in many things—something that happens to me, a conversation I overhear, a song on the radio—and if it occurs to me, I write it.

I start the story, but when it’s really going right, the story takes over at some point and leads me. I love that. My least favorite part of the process is revision and editing. It’s a necessary part, vital even, and I accept that, but for me it just lacks the rush of actually being in the middle of the writing.

You’ve described yourself as a small town boy. In what ways, do you suppose the ethos of a small town permeates your fiction?

I’ve never really thought about it, but I rarely write stories set in big cities. Most of my stories take place in small towns. I think there’s something about small town life that lends itself to horror. Everyone seems to know everyone else’s business in a small town, but also small town folks can keep a secret better than anyone else.

I admire your use of gay characters. They appear naturally and function as characters first, gay second. Do you have advice for other writers on using gay characters in their stories?

I have actually been asked this by straight writers before, and I always say that a gay person and a straight person are not really all that different, at least no more so than two straight people or two gay people. Don’t go in thinking, “I’m writing a gay character.” Just write a character, build the foundation, and let the sexuality just be an aspect of that, like eye color or height. Nothing more or less important than that. I always say don’t write a “gay character” but write a character who happens to be gay.

How do you balance your day job as a security supervisor and an accelerating career?

Well, I don’t know how much acceleration there is, but I am actually very lucky in that I have a job that allows me time to write. I’m a security guard, and throughout the work day I have pockets of downtime in between my duties, and I use that time to sit down and write. It’s a very nice set-up and I am grateful for it.

When you write a horror tale, what comes first – character, setting, plot, image, sight, sound, or something else? And how does it grow from there? Is it the same for stories and novels?

For me, it usually starts with a general notion. Like, “What if a guy thought a certain song was cursed and would cause bad things to happen if played in his presence?” Or “What if someone got stuck in a traffic jam that never ended?” Once I get the notion, I start asking a lot of questions. Who is this happening to? How does he or she react? How does the situation resolve itself? What complications arise in the seeking of that resolution? As I answer these questions, the story starts to form itself in my mind, connections being made. I tend to work that way for both shorts and the few novels I’ve written.

The idea for Asylum came to me in college. Some friends had taken me to a gay club and I thought, “What if zombie attacked and we were trapped in this club?” It all initially came from that simple thought.

How has your understanding of the form changed since your first efforts?

My early fiction makes me cringe. You’ve heard “show, don’t tell.” Well, my early efforts were all telling. I like to think I’ve gotten better at it since then, allowing the story to be told through character action, dialogue, and not just a laundry list of “This happened, then that happened, then this happened, the end.”

“Jam”—which will appear in my collection Tales from the Midnight Shift, Volume 1—was the first story I ever sold, and it was a big deal for me, despite netting me very little actual cash. But the story that really feels like it changed things for me is “God Doesn’t Follow You into the Bathroom”, which is also in the collection. I sold that story to Black Ink Horror, run by Tom Moran, and that began my association with Sideshow Press.

I want to constantly improve at my craft, and I believe the only way to do that is by simply writing, writing, writing.

If you could see around corners and into the future, what do you think the literary landscape will look like in ten years?

It depresses me how little people seem to read these days. You occasionally have your phenomenons like Potter and Twilight, but by and large reading seems to be viewed as an antiquated past time by a lot of people. So in ten years I think there will probably be fewer people reading for recreation and enjoyment, but the base of hardcore readers will remain passionate about it. I think digital will play an even larger role in the publishing business but will never “replace” actual books.

Who are you reading these days?

Joe R. Lansdale is awe-inspiring. I read him with a mix of exhilaration and envy. I’m currently reading some Michael McBride, whom I only recently discovered but has greatly impressed me. James Newman and Brian Knight I think are two of the best and most underappreciated writers working today.

What’s next for you?

I have a few projects in the works with Sideshow Press for 2011, but it’s a little too early to give any details. I’m also working on a novella entitled “The Summer of Winters” that I will shop around when I’m done. After that another zombie novella, “Fort”, which isn’t a sequel to “Asylum” but is connected. Mostly I just plan to keep writing.

Related posts:

1. Interview with author Ray Wallace
2. From Zombie Celebrity to Author: An Interview with Amanda Feral
3. Zombie Week: Interview With Author David Moody

You’re all familiar with zombie celebutante Amanda Feral from my reviews of Happy Hour of the Damned, Road Trip of the Living Dead, and Battle of the Network Zombies. Hopefully you’re also familiar with her from reading about her adventures themselves. But what you may not know is that Mark Henry, whose name is on the cover of these novels, is actually the ghost writer for the real Amanda Feral. The snarky socialite is also an author in her own right, and her first e-book, Stocking Full of Coal, just released on December 16th. I had the chance to chat with Amanda before her premiere to get the skinny on where she’s at now (but not who she’s eating).

Alana Joli Abbott: You’re a celebrity and a socialite, as well as the owner of your own advertising firm and a former reality television show star. What made you decide to strike it out as a writer?

Amanda Feral: Is there anything I can’t do? The answer is bowling. Inevitably, I’d pick a ball that was too heavy for me and I’d lose an arm down the alley. But to answer your question, I started amassing all these little stories from observations. People I’d meet and figured I could turn them into some tidbits of hotness. Erotica was a natural fit because my first language is smut.

AJA: For your memoirs, you worked with ghostwriter Mark Henry, whose name ended up on the book covers. Was giving him credit a ploy to avoid paying a percentage of the profits to the Reapers? Or were you just hoping to protect your supernatural identity?

AF: Back then, I just didn’t have the time to write, so I’d call in these snippits from my life and let him worry about how to piece them together. I’m not saying there’s anything fictional in those books, just that he might have exaggerated…particularly about my promiscuity.

AJA: Your relationship with Mark seems combative, based on tweets that pass between the two of you. Can you tell us a little bit about working with him?

AF: He’s miserable and thinks he’s funny. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have a career at all.

AJA: The first book with your name on the cover, Stocking Full of Coal, launches this month. Congratulations! Can you tell your fans a little bit about the new story?

AF: It’s an erotic tale of bruisesluts and secret societies and what happens when you stop keeping secrets and open yourself up to possibilities. Superhot and disturbing, which I plan to be the tone of all my erotic work.

AJA: Any supernatural appearances in the book?

AF: This one is a contemporary erotic romance (but heavy on the erotic). So it’s not paranormal, but that doesn’t mean it’s not weird. I can’t get away from the “WEIRD”. I guarantee it’s not anything your readers have ever read before.

AJA: Spill. Was Mark involved at all in working on this title?

AF: You never can tell. He’s stalking me; that might have influenced the depravity in the pages.

AJA: I noticed on your new blog that you’re now living in Paris. What made you decide to leave Seattle?

AF: Seattle is a little soggy, as you can imagine. There’s nothing worse than bloating up simply from being outdoors. Normally a body has to be floating face down in a river for months to create the kind of damage a Pacific Northwest autumn and winter can do to a zombie. Paris isn’t a whole lot better, but damn if the flavor of meat and stuff (wink) isn’t enhanced by the French’s bitchy ways. I love ‘em.

AJA: There aren’t all that many zombie writers out there — as far as the general public is aware, anyway. What particular struggles have you faced that a non-zombie might not encounter?

AF: It’s not been easy. The vampire and werewolf authors steal the limelight and flood the marketplace with their anti-zombie propoganda. I’ve had it. So I’ve decided to take them out one at a time. First on my list is that snarky bitch Jaye Wells (Mage in Black). She is so dead.

AJA: Agents or editors: which taste better?

AF: I’ve sampled neither. I’ll tell you after the sales figures on this book come back.

AJA: Aside from following you on twitter, where can your fans get the latest updates on the life of Amanda Feral?

AF: I have a blog, which I update irregularly at feralsmut.blogspot.com. Also, I’m on Tumblr (amandaferal.tumblr.com).

Thanks to Amanda for joining us at Flames Rising. Check out her new book, Stocking Full of Coal, or go grab a copy of her memoirs, Happy Hour of the Damned,, Road Trip of the Living Dead, and Battle of the Network Zombies.

Related posts:

1. Interview with author Ray Wallace
2. Interview with Author Mark Allan Gunnells
3. Zombie Week: Interview With Author David Moody

GABRIELLE FAUST has pursued an eclectic career as an illustrator, technohorror writer, and leading industry entertainment critic. She is also currently the Chair of the Texas Chapter for Horror Writers of America.

In 2005 her poetry collection, Before Icarus, After Achilles, was published. Faust then partnered with Immanion Press in August of 2007 for her cross-genre technohorror trilogy Eternal Vigilance, a post-apocalyptic vampire saga of epic proportions. The first novel of this series, From Deep Within the Earth, was released in April, 2008. The second installment, The Death of Illusions was released in March of 2009 and the third, Bound in Blood was released in September of 2010.

In 2009 Ms. Faust’s second collection of poetry entitled Crossroads was published by Seraphemera Books. In addition to the release of the third Eternal Vigilance novel, Faust released a new novella entitled Regret with Dark Regions Press toward the end of this year.

Flames Rising is pleased to present an interview with Gabrielle Faust conducted by author Kenneth Mark Hoover.

Sparkly vampires, emo vampires, vampires full of angst…will vampires ever be evil again, or is that hoping for too much?

Oh, vampires will definitely always be evil in the eyes of many. In opposition to the domestication of the vampire I have noticed quite a few film makers and authors taking the genre in a very brutal, hardcore direction that strips every ounce of glamour from the mainstream’s version of the creature.

Do you like that change of direction?

For me, vampires will always be the natural predators of humanity. No matter how beautiful or seductive they might appear, like Lestat or Dracula, they will still kill you in the end.

What are you working on now?

Currently I am working on a few new projects including the fourth installment of the ETERNAL VIGILANCE vampire series, a new collection of poetry and the sequel to my novella REGRET. I’m also working on several new product additions to my cosmetics line “Gabrielle Faust by Overall Beauty”.

Given all that, what themes most often appear in your work about supernatural creatures?

Societal revolution, the rise and fall of civilizations, and humanity’s struggle to not repeat the mistakes of its ancestors are all themes I find myself wrestling with time and time again. I love working with the concepts of damnation and salvation and the definition or redefinition of what “sin” is as we evolve culturally as a society.

Could you name any specific examples where those themes appear in your writing?

The ETERNAL VIGILANCE vampire series works within all of those themes from a reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of a societal revolution against an oppressive force to a philosophical, and rather existential view, on the repetitive nature of humanity’s errors, especially with regards to the construction of empires. Every great empire rises and eventually falls once they reach the apex of their power, but why? What is it about those empires that seemed infallible at one point and then suddenly crumble either from within or without? As for the concepts of salvation and damnation, my new novella REGRET is a metaphysical, philosophical examination of the rather antiquated mortal concept of “sin” and its relevancy in a world that has evolved beyond the limited parameters of planes such as Heaven and Hell.

I must say I really like how you have coupled historical and philosophical elements with genre.

In a world of gray is there really a black and white definition of good and evil anymore?

If you don’t mind, let’s continue this a little further. Do you draw upon historical examples when you work and develop these themes, or do you try and come up with something new?

For anything dealing with themes of societal structure and civilizations one must always reflect back and draw from the past in order to contemplate the future. However, it is always nice to write something purely hypothetical such as was the case of REGRET and the upcoming sequel REVENGE, which I am co-authoring with philosopher Solomon Schneider.

This is what I like most, hearing writers expound upon the artistic and philosophical points of their stories. In that same vein, what do you feel are your definite strengths as a writer?

I think my strengths are definitely my capacity for creating poetic and vivid visual descriptions and solid, accessible characters for the worlds I envision. I always strive for the most original tale I can tell which I feel will make the reader look at the world, and themselves, in a way they never thought to do so before.

Gabrielle, writers today have to do a lot of self-marketing. It’s the nature of the beast, like it or not. I know you are actively engaged in doing this yourself and quite successful at it. What are some of the things you do to get your name out that you can share with readers?

Self-marketing is a crucial part of being an author these days!

I personally have a main website (gabriellefaust.com), a Facebook page, Facebook fan page, fan pages and groups for the ETERNAL VIGILANCE series, Twitter account, MySpace and a ReverbNation page, though I’m still trying to figure out how to best utilize that one.

Anything else?

I have a monthly newsletter and host two giveaways per month to encourage people to help me spread the word about my work. I also attend as many conventions as I can per year and travel extensively doing book signings. It’s all about establishing a solid, consistent and respected image in the public eye to show the world that you are dead serious about being completely committed to your craft. The world moves a million miles a nansecond these days, and if you don’t continually put yourself out there it’s extremely easy to vanish in the sea of writers.

You mentioned SF and fantasy cons. What do you bring back from these cons that help you as a writer?

For me cons are a chance to connect with fellow writers and hear all about their latest projects. It’s inspiring and hugely motivational to see their passion and commitment to their craft. It is also a wonderful chance to have face-to-face interaction with my readers and introduce my work to an audience who might otherwise have never heard of me. When you can establish that human connection it really does make the experience of selling or purchasing a book more profound and memorable.

All that does sound like it takes a lot of time out of the day. Don’t you have time for any personal hobbies?

I do make time for hobbies despite how busy I am. Everyone needs a timeout to keep them sane and I’m no exception. I play guitar and paint, two pastimes that I find are blissfully relaxing.

You mentioned you play the guitar. What kind of music and style do you play?

It’s hard to put my style into a single category. I play a lot of Patty Griffin, Kathleen Edwards, Shawn Mullins, Bob Dylan-eqsue tunes. I was in a punk band at one point in high school and then fronted a blues band for a while later on. However, I do always come back to the simpler tunes since
they just feel good to play.

Does this personal music relate to your fiction?

No, it really doesn’t relate to my fiction as much as it relates to my poetry. Very different styles and very different voices, but still all part of the strangely complex enigma that is “me”.

Okay, then. When you’re not writing, what genres, authors do you like to read most?

I typically read a lot of science fiction and horror, though I’m often prone to read whatever snares my attention. Generally anything from the Beat generation is golden as well such as Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs, Cohen or Ferlinghetti. I love nonfiction works on philosophy, metaphysics or Scottish history. Currently I’m completely obsessed with the science fiction novels of Dan Simmons.

Have you had any personal influences that shaped your growth as a writer?

This is a pretty broad question. Honestly, there are so many different experiences and influences that have touched me throughout my life and influenced my writing it’s hard to name just a few. When I’m crafting a character, or the story as a whole, I draw on my life experiences from the joyful to the downright horrific in order to make the tale as tangible and believable as humanly possible.

I am always interested in process and beginning points with writers and I think readers are, too. What influenced your desire to become a writer?

From an extremely early age I developed a passionate love affair with the art of storytelling. Writers, artists and musicians run rampant in my family so I was constantly surrounded by the craft. My grandparents on my father’s side were both poets and playwrights as were my aunts, great grand parents, etc. They encouraged me from the moment they noticed my interest in writing and urged me to work on skills. From elementary school through high school my friends and I would work together to craft collaborative novels in spiral notebooks, some of which were hundreds of handwritten pages long. I guess you could say it’s in my blood.

It certainly sounds so! What goals have you set for yourself as a writer?  Are you meeting them?

So far I have met all of the goals I have set for myself as a writer, where the writing itself is concerned, believe it or not! My current goals are to produce at least one to two books a year. I think it’s most authors’ desire to eventually become so widely read that they are referred to as a “household name”. This is definitely something I will always strive for.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

It’s also a goal of mine to reach as many people around the globe with my work as possible. (Pauses) Nothing thrills me more than getting emails from places like Romania or New Zealand and realizing that there are people throughout the globe reading my work.

Gabrielle Faust – 2010

About the Interviewer:
Kenneth Mark Hoover is a professional SF and fantasy writer who has sold over 50 short stories and articles. He is a member of SFWA and HWA. His first novel, Fevreblau, was published by Five Star Press in 2005. Mr. Hoover currently lives in Dallas, TX. You can read more about him and his work, or contact him, at his website: kennethmarkhoover.com.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Author and Game Designer Robin Laws
2. Interview with Joe R Lansdale
3. Interview with Peter Straub for A DARK MATTER

Flames Rising reviewer and Survival Horror fanatic Eric Pollarine had the chance to talk to author David Moody for Zombie Week. We had previously posted the first chapter of David’s novel Hater here on Flames Rising. In this interview David tells Eric about his work on the Autumn and Hater series.

Your work is dark, yet ultimately speaks of the human spirit either in triumph or defeat, do you think that “survival horror,” is now at a point that it will be able to branch off on its own and become a recognized genre?

That’s a really interesting question, and a difficult one to answer. I think that a lot of “survival horror” is a reaction of one sort or another – either to the present world situation or just as an alternative to a lot of the clichéd horror stories which have gone before. I didn’t intend to write “survival horror”, it’s just the way my stories developed. I have a natural aversion to stories where the hero is a square-jawed super man who can fight his way out of any situation, and one my pet hates is when characters just so happen to find themselves in the position of being able to understand and affect world-changing, catastrophic events (I’m talking about stuff like Roland Emmerich’s movies – Independence Day is the one that winds me up the most – the President of the USA flying the plane that destroys the key alien ship… come on, really?!). For me, the key to real horror is watching or reading something that I can easily identify with, so my stories deal with ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations which they can’t control. The ‘event’ which causes the situation isn’t what’s important to me, and I rarely explain what’s going on – I just want to know how the characters cope with it.

Also I’m curious to know what you think about the state of the “survival horror,” genre in general.

I think the genre’s at a really interesting point right now. There are some noticeably great survival horror stories doing really good business (I’d class The Walking Dead and even The Road in that category), but they’re being buried by franchises, sequels and remakes which make money for the studios and publishers without needing a huge amount of effort. That said, we’re living in turbulent, uncertain times, and I think the current world climate is both providing a lot of inspiration for people working in the genre, and it’s also providing a ready-made audience.

Is there any one out there (writers, artists, filmmakers, etc) that you think is doing really great work right now?

As the author of a series of zombie novels, I have to say I’m thrilled with the success of the Walking Dead TV series. It’s based on great source material, of course, but the film-makers have pulled out all the stops and produced something really special, and it’s great to see the living dead finally getting some serious attention in the mainstream. I think part of the success of the graphic novels and the TV adaptations is that they’re a story about people living through the apocalypse who just happen to be surrounded by the living dead – the focus is on the survivors, not the dead bodies. If you think about it, that focus is also present in some of the other great horror of the last couple of years. Take John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Let the Right One In (both the novel and the original Swedish movie adaptation) – it’s a story about kids, one of whom happens to be a vampire. As I’ve already said, for me that’s the key to good horror – concentrating on the characters, not the gimmicks.

Do you think that, given the deluge of “post-apocalyptic,” or “zombie,” related material that the publishing industry seems to be pushing lately, and is on television and the movies- that the public is experiencing something like millennial tension, with the upcoming 2012 date looming?

I don’t know whether it’s the fact we’re nearing 2012 that’s causing the present tension, but there’s definitely something in that. We certainly seem to be living through unique times right now, but I think it’s more likely to be due to the cumulative effect of a number of different factors: the financial situation and all it’s implications for jobs, house repossessions etc., over-crowding (just how many people do we think we’re going to be able to cram onto this planet before something gives?), terrorism (our enemies used to be easy to identify and more selective about their targets – now they could be anyone, anywhere), increased communications and ‘people power’ as a result of the Internet and social media etc., climate change… the list goes on! I think all these things are combining to create an overall feeling of unease, and the media is capitalizing on that (and therefore fueling it too!).

Or is it simply that with the state of the world being in such confusion, that people are willing and ready to address fear in a more realistic light?

Yes, definitely! I touched on the power of the Internet just now, and that’s affected almost every aspect of our lives. Information (and misinformation) now spreads with incredible speed and ferocity, and the fear can therefore spread with it. I think there’s less opportunity for people / organizations / governments etc. to hide now, and that’s having a huge effect on the way the world runs.

Autumn, is a zombie novel that doesn’t have the usual “tropes,” of flesh eating/cannibalism and the like, yet it is still just as terrifying, why did you decide to go the opposite rout with the greatest of all monsters?

I’ve always been a huge zombie geek, but there were aspects of the traditional mythos of the genre which I didn’t understand. I know these are moot points (we’re talking about the reanimation of dead bodies here!) but I’ve never been able to understand why the living dead needed to eat? You never saw them doing anything else like that… they didn’t have to drink, use the toilet, sleep… so why do they need to eat? I decided to take a different approach with Autumn to try and make the story a little more plausible (again, a bit difficult when we’re talking about the living dead!). After making that decision, I also started to look at some of the other zombie clichés and trying to avoid them. There’s a scene in almost every zombie book or film when someone gets bitten and then hides the wound until the least opportune moment when they ‘change’ and then bite and infect almost everyone else. In ‘Autumn’, people are either dead or they’re immune by the end of the first chapter, so those situations were removed from the equation. That allowed the story to develop differently. Finally, the zombies in most stories are the same at the end as they were at the beginning (although maybe a little more decayed!). In Autumn, the living dead change as the series progresses. They’re initially dumb, lumbering hulks of flesh, but, throughout the books, their mental strength slowly returns as their bodies continue to decay. I think it makes the dead more interesting as characters – the threat they present is increasing constantly.

I know that your first book, Straight to You, was published back in 1996, are there any plans to release it again?

Straight to You is a story I’m very proud of, but I was young and naïve when I first wrote the book and I think it’s dated badly. I do intend doing something with the story again in the future, but I’m not yet sure what. It may be a straight re-write, it might be something completely different…

In Hater, we see the main character of Danny McCoyne move from a life that on the inside seems torturous, uncertain and confused to one of absolute, crystal clear certainty. Is there subtext there or am I reading too much into the book?

No, you’re not reading too much into the book! That’s definitely a theme I wanted to explore. I don’t necessarily believe that what the Hater characters in the book do is right, but I thought it was interesting to take a look at life from a different perspective. I’ve often thought of them as very animal-like – in the way they initially move, hunt and kill – and that was a key theme. Bizarrely, an initial, undeveloped draft of the first book had them almost as a kind of werewolf creature, stuck post-transformation. Going back to your point though, as humans I think we automatically make ourselves slaves to our jobs, families, routines, beliefs etc., and I wanted to consider what would happen if all those binds were stripped away. In Dog Blood there’s a scene where a doomed character talks about the next fight he’s going to have, despite the fact that he’s very obviously dying and will be gone within the next couple of hours. He’s become very animal-like at that point – just existing for the moment; uncomplicated, and with a very straight-forward set of priorities: eat, kill, survive.

With Dog Blood, we have a unique version of the apocalypse, where we see the world through, what conventional thought would have us believe, would be the villain’s eyes. What gave you the idea to use the “us vs. them,” mentality in this way?

One of the over-riding themes of the series is us versus them (book three is actually called Them or Us) and I thought it would add extra weight to the events if they were shown from what is the opposite viewpoint to that which is traditionally used. But just because we don’t chose to live our lives according to the rules these people do, does it make them wrong? When you have an enemy, they usually believe in what they’re fighting for just as passionately as you do, sometimes maybe more so. But are they wrong, or are you? Or are you both right? These are impossible questions to answer, but it’s cool to put the cat amongst the pigeons and make people think about the possibilities!

The third book in the Hater series has yet to be released; can you give us a quick rundown of just how far ahead we’ll be looking into the future of the struggle?

I won’t say too much that might spoil Dog Blood for those who haven’t read it. Them or Us takes place about five months after the end of book two (although there are glimpses of what happens between the two novels) when the world is a hugely changed place. It’s an unusual book, and I’m really pleased with it. The fighting and intensity reaches a crescendo at the end of Dog Blood, but throughout Them or Us the social (anti-social) situation continues to play out and develop until it reaches what I think is a natural conclusion. My UK editor summed it up for me. She said Hater is about people falling apart, Dog Blood is about society falling apart, and in Them or Us, what’s left of the world falls apart.

I know you’ve said that the film rights for Hater, have been optioned again, but that there hasn’t been a lot of details, any news on the script or pre/production that you’ve gotten that you would like or legally can share?

I wish I could tell you more, but I don’t have anything else to share. I regularly ask the questions though, and I’ll update as soon as I know anything. Believe me, you’ll hear me shouting with excitement when something new finally does happen! It’s incredible to have Guillermo del Toro attached to my book, and I’m a huge fan of his, but it doesn’t help when he’s the busiest man in the business with new projects being announced almost every day!

I know you get this question often, but I think I may have twist on it. When you originally decided to put out the Autumn series on your own, the internet, and specifically the publishing industry wasn’t in the same complete state of panic as they are today. Do you think that with the emergence of the “everyone can do this,” sort of esthetic, would you still go your own way if you were publishing these stories now or would you try the submission/rejection go round?

I think the situation has definitely changed since I released Autumn online, and that’s been both a good and a bad thing. The approach I took with Autumn was, at the time, fairly unique, but today there are far more writers approaching publishing in the way I did. In many ways, therefore, it’s harder to be noticed today: there are some really talented people out there making their books available in a variety of different ways (podcasts, video etc.) and you have to be able to stand out from the crowd. That said, other changes to the traditional publishing model (most notably, the surge in the popularity of ebooks), means that it’s both much easier and more commercially viable for people to publish themselves. Places like Amazon even seem to actively encourage people to give their work away for free (or, at least, they make it easy for them to do so). I know that many people are generating substantial sales figures for themselves, and that’s a good thing. What the long term impact on the publishing industry will be, however, remains to be seen. I do think that this kind of independent publishing does occasionally offer an alternative to the ages old submission>rejection merry-go-round which all writers used to have to try and get on. The Internet allows you to connect directly with people – to cut out all the middle-men – and that has to be a good thing. If you self-publish now and you do it well, you can eventually present yourself to a traditional publisher with an already present readership, a well-developed product and a decent sales track record. But in answer to your question – if I was in the same position again, I think I’d still take the route I took with Autumn. And I haven’t ruled it out for the future. I like the control and flexibility that independent publishing gives the author, and I can see myself going down that road again one day.

How does David Moody work? Do you listen to music, sit in the dark, do you have a secret chamber where you divine the secrets of the end of the world?

I have a chamber, but it’s no secret! I have a large family and I work from home, so there’s pretty much a constant stream of people coming in and out of my room. I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to write full time, but the trade off is that I cop for a lot of the household duties too. I’m the chef, cleaner, dog walker etc. etc. etc. When I actually do get to write though (when everyone else is at school or work) I listen to music (I can only ever write to instrumentals, bizarrely) and I have to literally switch off the Internet (I don’t know what I’d do without Freedom). Like most writers, I think, I’m actually working all the time. I constantly have ideas swimming around my head and I spend a lot of time developing them before I start writing. This is the only job I know where you can be lying in bed or in the bath, or just staring out of the window, and still be working. Try telling that to the wife though!

Lastly, and it’s something I ask of every author I interview, do you have any words of advice for those of us that are still struggling to get our stories out there?

Absolutely. If you have a desire to tell your stories, and that desire never diminishes or disappears, then keep at it until it you make it happen. But you have to be quite hard on yourself. I tried many times to write a novel but it didn’t work until I set myself some specific guidelines and stuck to them: 1. plan the whole story in advance, 2. write at least a page every day, and 3. don’t go back and start editing / re-reading until you’ve finished a complete draft. When I started following those rules I had a complete novel written within six months. I’d also say don’t expect overnight success. Writing is a long, hard haul at times. My first book was written in 1994 but it took until 2009 for my first major publication. Finally, write about the things you’re passionate about. If you’re not interested in the story you’re telling, how can you expect anyone else to be?

I just want to say thanks again for the opportunity to do the interview; I really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule, cheers!

It’s been an absolute pleasure. Thanks, Eric!

Related posts:

1. From Zombie Celebrity to Author: An Interview with Amanda Feral
2. David Moody’s Hater Chapter One
3. New Trailer for Hater by David Moody

In this interview, FlamesRising.com editor-in-chief Matt M. McElroy sits down with best-selling author R.A. Salvatore to discuss his new book entitled GAUNTLGRYM. After the interview, uncover a vital clue to help you win a contest for a signed copy of the book and a trip for two to D&D Experience in Fort Wayne, Indiana..

This book brings Drizzt to the Neverwinter setting from the Neverwinter Nights video games. What parts of Neverwinter do you explore in this book?

We’re really running circular orbits here, occasionally overlapping and intersecting at the city of Neverwinter and Neverwinter Wood. I do visit the city and use the bridges as a focal point of my time there, as they seem to be the most distinctive and lasting of the structures. I visit the forest, but only generically in this one. The thing of it is, there’s a computer game company, Cryptic, recreating the landscape around Neverwinter to suit the needs of their project. As with everything in the Forgotten Realms, when we’re working in the same areas, we try to be aware of each other and interact with each other so that we can play off of each others’ work. Cryptic had a couple of requests for me so that I could help facilitate the changes they needed to take place.
 

The relationship between Drizzt and Jarlaxle has evolved over the years. At the start of Gauntlgrym, where do they stand?

Certainly they’re not enemies, but I think inquiring of the relationship from the two parties would get you two different answers. Jarlaxle is completely at ease with Drizzt; in a strange sort of way, he has idolized Drizzt for many, many decades. Drizzt had the gumption to escape, after all, where Jarlaxle (and Zaknafein) could not, and to the drow, that is no small thing. If you look at Jarlaxle’s more recent exploits and expeditions, you’ll see that he, too, is striking out further and further from Menzoberranzan, though we’ll see in this book that he retains some important ties to the power base there.

From Drizzt’s point of view, Jarlaxle remains an enigma. He knows that Jarlaxle could have killed him on multiple occasions, and not only let him go, but helped facilitate his escape. He doesn’t really trust Jarlaxle, and yet, Jarlaxle was the first person he ran to when he and Bruenor realized their losses in The Ghost King. Also, when Drizzt ponders Entreri and Jarlaxle’s budding relationship way back to Servant of the Shard, he thinks that Jarlaxle might be Entreri’s best chance for redemption. So while Drizzt doesn’t approve of everything Jarlaxle – of course he doesn’t – there’s a healthy respect for his fellow drow and a belief, perhaps misplaced, that in a pinch, Jarlaxle can be counted on.

Gauntlgrym advances the timeline quite a few years for these characters, though, and there has been little interaction between them over the last few decades. They are operating in overlapping orbits, but little more, at least in the beginning.
 

After all of the enemies and battles they have faced over the years, what do your characters fear?

From Drizzt’s point of view, change and loss. He is facing those fears throughout Gauntlgrym, after the events of The Ghost King. He finally found his home, his place in the world, but because of the nature of things in the Realms, it was a temporary thing, and, he fears, a temporary respite from an empty, wandering existence. So Drizzt and Bruenor have to face the losses they suffered in the beginning of the book, and Drizzt, as the book progresses, has to come to terms with a dramatic change in his own life.

Then he finds a new fear, an internal one that is more a confusion than fear, actually. For now he has to go on, but what does that mean? He knows what he is feeling, but he doesn’t know why, or if it is something he should be feeling. He’s off-balance. Or is he?

For Bruenor, there is no fear, but there is something he has long dreaded: a mundane existence on the throne of a well-oiled kingdom. Mithral Hall is at peace, relatively speaking, and the biggest duties for Bruenor are with the pen, not the axe — something he has never enjoyed. What Bruenor fears, then, I guess, is that waking up in the morning and going to bed at night does nothing more than put him one day closer to death.

What monstrous enemies are your favorite to write about?

Dragons, of course! Well, if I can explore them as characters, as in the short story “Wickless in the Nether.” For battle scenes, I’ve always favored the humanoid races to the monstrous ones because I understand such fights. I know how a boxer reacts to a punch. I know how the human body bends and contorts. I know the balance points of the human frame. With all of that, I can make a fight between Drizzt and Entreri, for example, much more intricate and detailed and believable (with exaggeration, admittedly!) than one between Drizzt and a floating eye, or an owlbear, or some other wildly imaginative concoction.

How do you think long-time readers of this series will react to the end of this book?

I never know the answer to that question and I always know the answer to that question. In general terms, some will immediately begin their lament that the series hasn’t done anything since The Dark Elf Trilogy or [pick any of the previous books and insert here]. Others will call it a grand new beginning, a worthy addition, or a complete flop (and some will take that to higher lengths by insisting that either Wizards of the Coast wouldn’t let me write what I wanted to write, or that some other author obviously wrote this one). Honestly, it’s quite amusing.

As far as the specifics of this book go, there will be anger, speculation, wild predictions and lots of tears. I knew when The Ghost King came out that if I didn’t get a few 1-star angry reviews, I had failed miserably and I feel the same way about Gauntlgrym. Because the Forgotten Realms are changing — have changed, even — and a place that many people have known as a secure home for decades now has been altered dramatically. That is jarring to many people; witness the reactions to the changes in the Star Wars universe and you’ll see the same sort of reaction.

I get that. I really do, and I feel it, too. Heck, I miss GenCon in Milwaukee. You can tell me all the truths of why Indianapolis is a better location for that convention — the convention center is much better, there’s more hotel room, it’s more convenient and on and on — but it won’t change my feelings, my wistful nostalgia for Milwaukee’s GenCon. It’s very human to feel this way. You can tell me that World of Warcraft is better than Everquest, and technically, you’d be absolutely correct, but I’ll never have the tales of adventure for WoW that I have for EQ. Same with 1st Edition D&D and 4th Edition. Same with the Realms gray box and the new incarnation of Ed Greenwood’s magical land.

I remember back in the early 90s, when I first started hearing the complaints that the newest Drizzt book didn’t measure up (even on books that I knew to be superior to most that had gone before, by every writing standard). I was a bit dismayed, but my editor and dear friend told me, “Bob, what they want is their Drizzt virginity back, and you can’t give it to them.”

I guess we all want things like that. It’s very human.

Love R.A. Salvatore’s Books? Contest Details Below.

The following question relates to the riddle that @Wizards_DnD tweeted Sunday. Solve this question for a prize. And a clue! Because the answer is the fourth of eight clues that will help you solve the riddle at the end of the week when the online tour wraps up. The first person to comment on this blog post with the correct answer to the following clue question, including his/her Twitter user name, wins today’s prize.

SCAVENGER HUNT UPDATE:
Congrats to Corey Dockendorf, the first eligible participant who correctly answered today’s clue question! Here’s the correct answer, since everybody will need it in order to solve the riddle at the end of R.A. Salvatore’s online tour beginning 10/22/10. Remember to visit all the other tour stops to find the other seven clues. Schedule, contest details, and official rules are available here: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/promotions.aspx

A SPECIAL NOTE FROM WIZARDS OF THE COAST: Visit all the stops during R.A. Salvatore’s week-long Gauntlgrym online tour to find the seven other clues. At the end of the online tour on 10/22/10, put all the clues together, be first to solve the riddle and tweet about it, and win a signed copy of Gauntlgrym and a trip for two to D↦D Experience in Fort Wayne, IN. You must include @Wizards_DnD and #gauntlgrym in your tweet. Riddle-solving tweets won’t be accepted until 12:01 a.m. EST on 10/22/10.

Good luck!

Related posts:

1. Preview of The Sentinels by Bob and Geno Salvatore
2. Interview with Geno and Bob Salvatore
3. Promise of the Witch King Review

What is there that hasn’t been said about author Kim Paffenroth? I mean come on, the guy practically invented the thinking man’s zombie story with his “Dying to Live” series, used the original Romero movies as the main focus for a book entitled “Gospel of The Living Dead,” is a Professor of Religious Studies and his latest work has taken him into the depths of the 14th century poet and author of “The Divine Comedy,” Dante Alighieri’s soul.

How is that for a resume?

But really all you need to know about Kim Paffenroth, is that he is a prolific writer and larger than life figure in the Zombie/Survival Horror genre. A man that, in today’s scene of lumbering unholy living dead, needs absolutely no introduction from the likes of a opinion pusher like me, so let’s get into the bone and sinew of this interview, with author Kim Paffenroth.

So let’s start at the beginning, Gospel of the Living Dead, why, in 2006, did you decide to take on the Romero franchise and explore its effect and symbolism on society? Was it that you knew the publishing field was ripe for something more base and real than the Vampire smut that they continually push in modern “horror” or something else?

You know, I didn’t even know about the vampire/paranormal romance stuff until I went to WHC 2007 and heard it discussed. I had no idea that’s what people were doing with the monster, because it wasn’t the world I moved in, up until that point. The world I had been moving in was the world of religious academics and journalists writing about the interface of religious (mostly Christian) ideas and pop culture. There was a rapidly growing field of books with the title The Gospel according to _____. Some were straightforward, like “Tolkien” or “Narnia,” where the author had a clearly stated, Christian faith that he wanted to allegorize in his work – so the analysis was to unpack the allegory for interested fans. Some went a little further, like “Harry Potter” – clearly a very moral and upbeat series of books, but one some Christians had avoided or derided because of its use of witchcraft and magic. So the purpose of the analysis would be more to win over people, who might otherwise be suspicious of the work as anti-Christian. That’s where I wanted to contribute something on my zombies, who had fascinated me since 1978, but I hadn’t thought specifically and deeply about them. I knew there was something more going on with them than all the blood and guts, but I knew a lot of Christians would never think to look there, because of the gore. So partly I was writing for them, to put their fears aside, and also for the zombie fans – to show them the deeper ideas a lot of them already saw, just with more detail and analysis.

It seems as if, at the time, both you and Permuted Press, along with Max Brooks and Bryan Keene, all hit the nail on the head when it comes to the public’s want, or need for all things flesh eating, as in the last 4-5 years everything seems to have involved zombies in some way. What is it about zombies Kim? Why do you think they fascinate and terrify us?

They’ve got some of the usual monster fears – of being killed, of being eaten, of turning into one of “them.” But they also have this overwhelming sense of ordinariness – of how we already are them, we just don’t realize it yet. You see them wandering in the mall, and it’s a nervous laugh you give, because you  know you look just like them, to some other objective observer. That gives them a different, steadier kind of dread, rather than just the adrenaline rush of being chased and killed.

In regards to the “Dying to Live: A novel of life among the dead”, you’ve got philosophy, horror, zombies, hubris, the distrust of authority, and the juxtaposition of survival and conquest. Did you consciously set out to address these issues or was it something that naturally progressed?

Some themes were definitely there from the beginning: theodicy and how the living can be more evil than the undead, for example. Those were in my mind before I started. But I’m open as I go to introducing more ideas, as they organically grow out of the characters and plot. I might be writing dialogue, and the way a character phrases something makes me want to pursue a different line than I’d thought when I started writing the dialogue. That goes for plot, too, to an extent, but I feel it more with larger themes – they often grow out of small details that I hadn’t planned.

It seems that the theme of your work, when it comes to fiction, well, you seem to use the structure of the classic hero’s journey- but then frame it in a more metaphysical, or religious context, with your most recent work, “Valley of the Dead,” Dante goes through the hero’s journey internally as well as externally, is that something that you have consciously strived to do in your work, or is it that, that structure is one that comes naturally to many writers and the subtext is implied?

It’s very conscious on my part, as I think those stories based on an inner and outer quest appeal the most to me and stay with me years later. The outer quest gives you all the concrete trappings of the plot and action, but the inner quest is what the book’s really about. I try to craft both as carefully as I can, to keep the reader engaged in both.

What prompted you to explore Dante as a character?

That was the hard part, because I knew him as a writer, not a character. I could talk about the themes and theology of the Commedia but I struggled with how to make him come alive as a person. Then I read The Romance of the Rose for my Honors class two years ago. It’s a poem that lays out the idea of “courtly love” that Dante would’ve believed in, and which he himself wrote some early poems about. Then I could finally portray him as a character, I think – I knew more of his outlook and motives. It was a thrilling moment, because I’d had the idea of the book in mind for some time.

How does Kim Paffenroth work, is it quiet refection, balls to the wall heavy metal blasting through out your house while you furiously type, maybe a combination of the two, or something completely different?

It’s too much multi-tasking is what it is. I seldom have the quiet time I’d like, so I have to get used to my train of thought being derailed, then getting back to it. It goes slower for that reason.

I’ve read that you are currently working on the next “Dying to Live,” book, care to give a little bit of detail on the general plot? What’s next in the series?

The four people who went into exile at the end of the second book continue, with new challenges. They find a new city of people and find it very hard to fit in there, though it’s not nearly as clear as in the first book that these new people are “bad” – they just have a radically different set of values and behaviors. It’s that whole clash of civilizations thing, but on a very small scale.

You’ve also announced that there was another book in the works; care to discuss what that is about?

Which one? My first ever non-zombie novel will be out next year from Belfire Press. It’s a ghost story. Not bloody at all. Right now I’m working on another zombie novel, not using the Dying to Live characters, but in a post-apocalyptic setting. Your question of the inner/outer journey definitely resonates with that story, as the main character is younger and is trying to define himself in a zombified world, while going on a journey to forage for fuel and supplies in the zombie infested areas.

Your work is, comparatively “heady” when put next to the normal tropes of survival/zombie fiction- I know that most fans of the genre find that refreshing because it seems that many writers entering the field treat the readers as if they enjoy the same story, over and over again, do you feel as if the zombie could ever be used in a strictly literary fashion-or do you think it will always be relegated to “Adult fiction,” or “Genre fiction” category?

I think we’re getting close to that, with novels that take a zombified world for granted, but then tell a story that isn’t just about survival and killing. I’d take that all the way back to The Road – not zombies per se, but the whole story is about the two main characters trying not to be eaten by their cannibalistic fellow survivors. And the story is really about love and sacrifice and what kind of “values” the son will inherit. I think you’ll see more zombie tales like that.

The telltale bad interview question, what are your influences, in any genre or realm?

Melville and Flannery O’Connor. They’re both so overwrought, but I love them. If I could write like that, and then tone it down on a rewrite to sound more “normal” – that’d be some good writing. Of course Heavy Metal, that goes without saying, though there’s something so unfocused in the music’s anger. I like to have characters who are that angry and violent, but who direct it and  mull over it more.

Another sign I have peaked in this game, when not writing- what is a day in the life of Kim Paffenroth like?

Long drive to work if it’s one of the days I’m teaching; long drive back late at night. If not, then it’s up at 8am, read the NYTimes online, fuss around with email and Facebook, then I usually have a bunch of writing projects – academic and non-fiction – going at the same time and I have to juggle those for the rest of the day, along with whatever familial obligations I have.

With regards to Permuted Press, it seems as if they are committed to putting out some of the best books in the genre, was Permuted your first choice?

I totally stumbled on them. I hadn’t read a lot of zombie fiction at that point, but I saw that’s what they did, and I saw I didn’t need an agent to submit, so I did. The rest is history, as they say.

I ask all the authors/writers that I interview this, Do you have any words of wisdom, or advice to struggling writers working in this or any other genre that you’d like to pass on?

Persistence. No flame wars (especially not over your writing, but preferably none at all). Oh, and read a lot outside of the genre. You can’t learn to write horror (or be an erudite, interesting person in general) if you read just horror.

Related posts:

1. Zombie Week: Interview With Author David Moody
2. Kim Paffenroth’s THE WORLD IS DEAD now available!
3. Dying to Live: Life Sentence by Kim Paffenroth Now Available!

Elminster Returns!

Elminster Must Die is the debut 4th edition appearance of one of the Forgotten Realms world’s most iconic characters, written by the creator of the original Forgotten Realms campaign setting. An instant classic, and a must-read for every Realms fan.

When the goddess of magic was murdered, Elminster’s world shattered. Once the most powerful wizard in the world, immortal, beloved of the goddess of magic, and the bane of villainy, he is now a tired old man. He is powerful but mortal, and with all the enemies a man who makes a habit of saving the world tends to accumulate. To make matters worse, Elminster has needs—feeding powerful magic items to the Simbul, his lover, is the only thing that keeps her sane—but their increasingly risky collection leads his enemies right to him.

Flames Rising is pleased to present a new interview with Elminster Must Die author Ed Greenwood.

How important is this story to the timeline within the Forgotten Realms?

Very, and not at all.

“Not at all” in that it starts in the spring of the Year of the Ageless One and doesn’t advance the timeline much, taking place over not all that many consecutive days, and largely (but not entirely!) in one place (Suzail) in one realm (Cormyr).

“Very” in that it shows the reader what life in Suzail at this time is like, particularly in Court circles and within the Royal Palace, but also in taverns and clubs where largely-unclad dancers undulate on stages for audiences of social standing high and low, and in stinking, refuse-strewn alleyways where laws are seldom respected.

In short, it brings the “new Realms” of the 4th edition Realms to life for the reader interested in Cormyr, and shows us what has changed – and how little has really changed.

It reintroduces us to at least seven major characters of the Realms, familiar to readers from the 3rd edition Realms sourcebooks and novels, and updates us on what’s happened to them. It also mentions in passing something of the fates of many other places and people Realms fans already know.

Have you had the chance to play the 4th edition Forgotten Realms RPG?

Yes, and loved it. My first opportunity was with an excellent Dungeon Master at D&D Experience two years back, at the Living Forgotten Realms® launch. It was fresh and fun.

Since then, only sporadically, because my players and I are just too busy and too farflung around the world to get together for play sessions often (and we hardly use rules at all, after thirty-some years; it’s all roleplaying and freeform storytelling).

I design for 4th edition more than I actually get to play it, but that’s something a lot of game designers have to wrestle with.

What was the biggest challenge in writing this particular book?

My usual big challenge: cramming all I wanted to put into the book into the wordcount limit I had to abide by. Which is why things get faster and faster towards the end of the novel, as I started to rush and chop and try not to leave out anything important. When I plot books, I always think I can do scenes in fewer words than they really need. I’m still learning, after 130-plus books . . .

What do you think Elminster Must Die will mean to your readers?

This novel will show everyone that the Realms is alive and well, that its underlying “grand stories” are still unfolding, and that Elminster is old and very weak and mortal, but not quite ready to lie down and die yet . . . but that lots of people would like to help him do just that, right now!

Elminster Must Die will mean to readers that there are plenty of vivid stories to tell yet in the Realms, and that I’m plunging right into the heart of one of them. Come along for the ride! I’m not superb in the saddle, mind you – so there’ll be some excitement, all right!

Do you have a message you’d like to share for your fans?

Sure! The Realms is vivid and rich and wide, not a fading or (ahem) “forgotten” thing. I still have plenty of stories I want to tell in this world I love, and it still holds a lot of secrets – including some that have been there since at least 1986, that just haven’t risen into view yet! Elaine’s working on a new book! Bob’s working on new books! Paul Kemp is, and – no, can’t tell you about that just now! Stick around, you haven’t seen nothing yet!

Ed Greenwood – August, 2010

Elminster Must Die is now available at Amazon.com.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Geno and Bob Salvatore
2. Interview with Forgotten Realms author Jaleigh Johnson
3. Interview with Fantasy author Paul S. Kemp

OK folks, I have been a little busy, well, not really busy but more like really, really lazy. And the last few things that I have written were pretty standard, and lacking an essential “Ericness,” but with this interview with author Jeff Somers, I think that I have somewhat recaptured, with the help of the masterful author himself, the spirit that I started out my career at Flames Rising with.

So, if you don’t know who Jeff Somers is, or have never read the Avery Cates novels (The Electric Church, The Digital Plague or The Eternal Prison) then you, dear reader haven’t been reading the right Science Fiction. So without further delay I present to you the hilarious and informative interview with Jeff Somers, whose most recent novel “The Terminal State,” will hit bookstores in paperback this upcoming August.

First off let me say thanks to you Mr. Somers for letting me interview you.

Jeff Somers : Thank you for the interest!

First let’s start with, well the most logical place, “The Electric Church.” I am picking up a lot of Dystopian, anti establishment sort of dark, cyberpunk themes in your books but certainly the most telling, the most dark- is “The Electric Church,” what lead you to create the world of the Avery Cates novels? Is it a hallucinogen induced prophetic state you are able to enter into, macabre ceremonies in your study, whiskey or something else?

Whiskey, definitely. You wake up pantsless a few bus stops from home often enough, and your sunny disposition and faith in the world is easily shaken. Plus a healthy dose of distrust for authority and governments, organized religions, and everyone in general. I just believe the natural state of the universe is chaos—it takes a lot of work to maintain any kind of order, and it’s a lot easier to let things devolve into chaos and disco.

The literal inspiration for the Church came from a Douglas Adams novel that featured an Electric Monk that was basically an appliance that believed things for you. And I thought, damn, I could steal the hell out of that, which is, I believe, the rallying cry for great authors everywhere: Damn, I Could Steal the Hell Out of That.

With the level of technology interspersed in your novels did you do any research on actual technological advances, or tech trends to fill out that aspect of the books or was it just taking the usual tropes and pushing them further?

If by “research” you mean chatting people up in bars and hoping they were Futurists: Yes, yes I did.

I took two statements and decided they were both true: 1. Scientific advancement as far as practically applied technology would continue pretty steadily, and 2. The more advanced things are, the more repair and maintenance they need. I pictured Cates’ world as amazing in one sense, but crumbling, the infrastructure dangerously corroded. Mostly its little details: The escalators in everyone’s building that never work, all the people living in primitive conditions while the most amazing gadgets are at work around them.

I wanted to keep the technology somewhat in the ballpark of what could realistically be extrapolated from current technology, but some of it was driven by other elements: Hovers, for example, came from my desire to have the System Police descend from the heavens while the mopes were stuck on the ground.

Avery Cates, who is he to you?

A character! Cates is just a voice in my head, a figment who is a lot of fun to move around and script dialog for. He doesn’t speak to me, or visit me, or anything like that. He’s inspired by some of the old noir detective characters like Phil Marlowe or The Continental Op. He kind of sprung fully-formed onto the page in the first draft of The Electric Church, which was written in 1993 or so.

The telltale influences question, the mark of every bad interviewer but here we go anyway: who are they for you and why?

A kid named Corey, who taught me to drink Blackberry brandy when I was about twelve. Ramon, who taught me who to hotwire – wait a sec, you mean literary influences, don’t you?

Well, you have the aforementioned noir writers like Chandler, Hammett. You have Jim Thompson, and Patricia Highsmith. That’s for characters and setting, ambiance. The story certainly owes a debt to William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, and to a steady diet of 1980s-era mass market paperbacks by people like Jack L. Chalker and Frederick Pohl. And The Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson: damn.

You have your own magazine, “The Inner Swine,” what prompted you to put out your own magazine in a time when, well, print is certainly under fire from digital, if not nearing dead?

I actually started putting out The Inner Swine in 1993, which was, unbeknownst to me, plum in the middle of a Golden Age of Zines. Me and three friends had the idea in our college days—I was moaning about not selling any fiction, and my friend Rob said, dude, why not put out our own magazine? And damn if that’s not what we did.

If that conversation had happened today I’d probably start a Blog, honestly, but I enjoy putting out a print zine. I do whatever I want, my fiction that I can’t sell has a place to go, and while incredibly expensive it’s very satisfying. I may someday take it digital in some way; I don’t actually think print is necessarily supreme for any particular reason. Print has advantages, but digital can be almost the same experience these days. So who knows; The Inner Swine might someday be a PDF file.

The now quintessential question for our vapid and hollow society: What is on your Ipod/preferred Mp3/listening device?

iPod? Bite your tongue. Apple can suck it.

Jay Z / NOFX / Beastie Boys / The Beatles / Pavement / Suicidal Tendencies / AC/DC / Too Much Joy / mashups mashups mashups. Mashups are slowly taking over my music collection.

Humor in the Cates saga is a pretty dark affair as well, is that a personal preference, one that simply suits the world you’re creating, or is it that you just have a gift for bleak humorous prose?

Certainly it feels right that Cates et al would be a little bleak in their outlook, and they’d be breaking balls all the time, playing little head games. Dark humor is fun, and a lot of it comes naturally – a lot of it, frankly, is the lines I wish I had the presence of mind and/or balls to say in my own real-life situations.

I don’t think about or work at the humor too much; it just happens naturally. I think if you try to make something or a character funny, it usually fails, but then maybe that’s why I don’t get paid to write jokes for people.

You’ve hinted at the Avery Cates novels potentially being optioned for a film, do you have further info, or anything you can add to the rumor mill at this time?

The series was definitely optioned and Sony has it in development. That means nothing. A lot of books get optioned and start the development cycle. The option’s up in a few months, which means they either have to buy the option again, or let it lapse. If it lapses we can sell it to someone else. Hell, some books have been in development on and off for decades without a movie being made. I’m not holding my breath.
9.  Do you have any specific plans for the Avery Cates novels, are they coming to an end, or can we expect more from everyone’s favorite gunner?

There’s going to be one more Cates book for sure, The Final Evolution, due out next summer (2011), which will close out the major arc for the character. After that, who knows? I am prevented by threat of Ninja attack from revealing any details.

Orbit books, they seem to be making it their business to put out fantastic genre fiction, like your novels, Feed by Mira Grant and more-was it an active choice for you to go with Orbit, or simply the best deal?

Orbit wooed me. They showered me with champagne, expensive gifts, and compliments. They assigned a live-in Fun Coordinator to me who followed me around planning fun things for me to do. They sent me a new bottle of whiskey every evening. They hired singing telegrams to sing praises to me, literally. I was so drunk, overfed, and exhausted I signed the contracts practically in my sleep. The next day, my house had been robbed clean and burned to the ground, and I now receive my editorial instructions via court-order.

No, no, really: Orbit was first on the scene, but their response was so enthusiastic and smart I had little trouble deciding to sign with them. And it was a great decision: I love my editor, and I’ve enjoyed the whole experience.

(Lightening round, ready …GO!)

Any Pets?

Four cats: Pierre (fat, the Alpha Eunuch), Oliver & Guenther (brothers, timid, sweet), and Spartacus (tiny, aggressive, aggressively cute—we flew him from Texas when he walked into our hotel room one night, demanding pastries).

Favorite Drink, alcoholic or otherwise?

Whiskey in many forms: Bourbon, Rye, Scotch. My goodness, I’m drunk right now.

Wait a second: They make nonalcoholic drinks? This changes everything. I had no idea.

Would you ever wear flip flops?

Never in life. I don’t even want to look at my hideous, whiskey-pickled toes.

(Lightening Round is over)

That was exhausting.

How do you work, quiet time, out and about, sitting at Starbucks lording success over struggling authors, maybe something more sinister?

My Future Self arrives via explosion and arc lightning and hands me a completed manuscript. He’s often extremely drunk, belittling, and sarcastic, calling me Little Man. Sometimes the manuscripts have bloodstains on them, but I am afraid to ask about that. I’m given very specific instructions on when and how to submit them. To be frank, it’s all very mysterious.

I write pretty constantly, actually, though in short, ADD bursts. I can work anywhere but I tend to sit in my office in the house, at my desk. I work on laptops when I travel, and also write short pieces in longhand in a notebook, so I can work wherever I happen to be, even in places without electricity. I actually used to work on an ancient manual typewriter up until a few years ago. Sometimes I write a lot, sometimes I struggle to pop out three words all day. I don’t worry about it, or keep a schedule, and I don’t need any sort of ideal environment to work in.

I ask this of every author I interview, is there any advice you would like to give or can give to writers out there that are still struggling out there?

Perfectly seriously: Learn to divide your business from your art. Write what you want to write, write what you would want to read. Worry about selling it after you’ve written it. I know some writers can think about the market and tailor their output for what’s selling, but I think that’s a loser’s bet.
Last let me say thanks so much for the interview, and the novels, I hope to keep reading Cates novels for many more years to come!

Thanks! Any time.

So go get your copies of the Avery Cates novels and join in on one of the best science fiction series of the last decade!

Related posts:

1. Zombie Week: Interview With Author David Moody
2. James Lowder Interview, Author & Editor
3. Interview with Author R. A. Salvatore